Genetic and demographic research on fire salamander

The fire salamander was put forward as a policy priority species. It is a habitat-typical species for some protected European habitat types. It is therefore important to maintain or achieve a regionally favourable conservation status for this species: a habitat type can only be in a regionally favourable state if the species that are typical of it are also in a regionally favourable state.

In addition to habitat threats, the fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal) poses a serious threat to the survival of the fire salamander populations and raises serious international concerns, as evidenced, inter alia, by the recommendations of the Berne Convention, publications in several leading scientific journals, and recent EU regulations restricting trade in amphibians within the Union. Bsal outbreaks in the Netherlands, Wallonia and Germany led to a 96% loss of individuals within a population.

The risk of an outbreak in Flanders is real. In that case the Agency for Nature and Forests (ANB) is the responsible authority for implementing the agreements that were made in the national action plan to control Bsal. In order to implement this action plan efficiently, there is a need for policy-supporting knowledge about the adult population size of the different fire salamander populations and their genetic diversity.