Carlos Andino, UNAH
Brandon Greaves, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium
Jonathan Kolby
Jessi Krebs, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium
The Honduras Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Center (HARCC) was founded to promote capacity building for conservation of amphibians in Honduras, which was deemed a biodiversity hotspot by the IUCN. Current priorities of HARCC include using reproductive techniques (e.g. gamete collection, cryopreservation, artificial fertilization) in order to promote ideal genetics and breeding of rare species. HARCC intends to take a novel approach and perform all activities in situ. For the first step of this process, a pilot test was run on in situ sperm collection methodology at a field site in Sierra del Merendón. A low dose of the hormone GnRH was given to two endangered species: the Copan brook frog (Duellmanohyla soralia) and Dunn’s climbing salamander (Bolitoglossa dunni). Two D. soralia were also treated with saline as a control for that species. All samples collected from hormone-treated D. soralia contained sperm, whereas samples from controls were void of sperm. It is uncertain if hormone treatment was responsible for spermiation in the B. dunni, as only a single specimen was used; however, this animal produced ample sperm. This pilot test demonstrates the first time sperm was collected from either of these species, and the first time sperm was collected from amphibians in Honduras. This is also the first report of using a hormone protocol to induce amphibian spermiation in situ without first testing it on a captive group of the target species. This is an exciting step for the conservation of Honduran and remote amphibian species.
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