Action

Reduce pesticide, herbicide or fertilizer use

How is the evidence assessed?
  • Effectiveness
    71%
  • Certainty
    26%
  • Harms
    0%

Study locations

Key messages

  • One study in Taiwan found that halting pesticide use along with habitat management increased a population of Taipei frogs.

 

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

  1. A study in 1999–2006 of a water lily paddy field in Taipei County, Taiwan (Lin et al. 2008) found that stopping using pesticides along with habitat-improvement work doubled a population of Taipei frogs Rana taipehensis. In 2002, a farmer stopped using herbicides and pesticides on his field, which was at the centre of the frogs’ breeding habitat. By August 2003, the Taipei frog population in the field had more than doubled (from 28 to 85) and the farmer fully adopted organic-farming practices. Pollution from river construction work resulted in a drastic decline in the population in 2004–2005 (20 to 4), but by 2006 the population appeared to be recovering (19). Habitat-improvement work included cutting weeds in the field.

    Study and other actions tested
Please cite as:

Smith, R.K., Meredith, H. & Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Amphibian Conservation. Pages 9-64 in: W.J. Sutherland, L.V. Dicks, S.O. Petrovan & R.K. Smith (eds) What Works in Conservation 2020. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

Amphibian Conservation

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Amphibian Conservation
What Works 2021 cover

What Works in Conservation

What Works in Conservation provides expert assessments of the effectiveness of actions, based on summarised evidence, in synopses. Subjects covered so far include amphibians, birds, mammals, forests, peatland and control of freshwater invasive species. More are in progress.

More about What Works in Conservation

Download free PDF or purchase
The Conservation Evidence Journal

The Conservation Evidence Journal

An online, free to publish in, open-access journal publishing results from research and projects that test the effectiveness of conservation actions.

Read the latest volume: Volume 21

Go to the CE Journal

Discover more on our blog

Our blog contains the latest news and updates from the Conservation Evidence team, the Conservation Evidence Journal, and our global partners in evidence-based conservation.


Who uses Conservation Evidence?

Meet some of the evidence champions

Endangered Landscape ProgrammeRed List Champion - Arc Kent Wildlife Trust The Rufford Foundation Save the Frogs - Ghana Mauritian Wildlife Supporting Conservation Leaders
Sustainability Dashboard National Biodiversity Network Frog Life The international journey of Conservation - Oryx Cool Farm Alliance UNEP AWFA Bat Conservation InternationalPeople trust for endangered species Vincet Wildlife Trust