Modelling the population viability of a threatened amphibian with a fast life-history

1. A bias in conservation research has meant that population viability analysis has focused primarily on mammals and birds with slow life histories. The global amphibian decline has demonstrated the capacity for fast life-history species to experience decline. However, little is known about the viability of remnant populations of these species as patterns of decline cannot be inferred from other species with different life-history strategies. Population viability analysis was performed on the threatened frog, Litoria aurea, which exhibits high temporal variability in population size due to its fast life-history traits. Projections of population size from the viability model were highly variable, and removing parametric uncertainty only slightly improved overall model certainty, thus demonstrating the limits of population viability analysis for predicting abundance in fast life-history species. Sensitivity analysis identified recruitment of adults, female survival, male survival and rate of maturity as having the most impact on population viability. This population viability model provides a starting point to incorporate future research findings and better elucidate the causes of local extinction in this species. This study also reinforces the importance of egg-juvenile survival for amphibian populations, but also exemplifies the variability of amphibian viability analyses for identifying important parameters. As a case study for amphibian conservation, this analysis shows the utility of population viability analyses for fast life-history species, even with incomplete knowledge of all life-history stages. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.