In Episode 1 of Amphibian Rescue, we go back to the beginning. Herpetologist Dr. Joe Mendelson takes us through the earliest signs of global amphibian declines and the timeline of how scientists went from dismissing the idea to finally accepting that there was a crisis to respond to.

Joe recounts how scientists worldwide initially dismissed disappearances as bad years until patterns converged at the 1989 World Congress of Herpetology and later evidence pointed to disease. The episode follows the slow recognition of chytridiomycosis, and Karen Lips’ documentation of a site’s chytrid arrival and subsequent crash. All of which kickstarted a global movement to respond to this crisis that is, unfortunately, not over yet.

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Dr. Joe Mendelson III is Director of Research at Zoo Atlanta and adjunct professor at Georgia Tech University. He has dedicated his career to taxonomy and herpetology, and was among the first responders to the amphibian decline crisis. He is also a guitarist in the Atlanta-based science punk-rock band Leucine Zipper and the Zinc Fingers.

Amphibian Rescue is produced and hosted by María Braeuner, with original music by Pablo Bolaños | Biota Specimens.

Episodes are reviewed and fact-checked by the Amphibian Ark team of experts: Luis Carrillo, Devin Edmonds, Renata Ibelli Vaz, Jonathan Wilcken, Cybele Lisboa, Elizabeth Townsend, María José Chang, and Beatriz Velásquez.

Cover image and intro and outro video footage by © Jaime Culebras

The podcast is made possible thanks to the continued support of Amphibian Ark donors and partners around the world.

Together, we can continue rescuing amphibians in crisis.