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Dear Frogloggers,

It gives me great pleasure to write the editorial of this very special edition of FrogLog. Tim Halliday’s name is synonymous with a number of terms—you might immediately think of “FrogLog”, or “DAPTF”, while others pair Tim’s name with “amphibian declines” and “newt courtship”, and as you’ll read about in this edition, still others link his name to “extinction biologist” or “red shoes” or even “I’m sorry I missed your talk”! Whatever your reason for being familiar with the name Tim Halliday, it is without doubt that he has made a massive contribution to amphibian behaviour and amphibian conservation—he is the leading champion and ambassador for all things amphibian. 

I first became aware of the name T. R. Halliday through a shared passion—toads! As many of you will know I have an inordinate fondness for toads, mainly in the genus Bufo, but several other genera such as AnsoniaAtelopusMelanophryniscusRhinella are some of my favourites too! My Ph.D. on frog behaviour was dedicated to my ‘familiar’, a stunning Bufo bufo (aka Gertrude), who accompanied me on many field trips for nearly 15 years. Tim’s seminal paper entitled “Deep croaks and fighting assessment in toads Bufo bufo” published in Nature in 1978 made me realise that my early career in tropical parasitology was misguided, and my true desire was to be like Tim and study the behaviour of toads. I do not exactly remember when I first met Tim, but our paths have crossed many times and in many different places around the globe, at the First World Congress of Herpetology in Canterbury; in South Africa where I did my Ph.D. on frog behaviour; in New Zealand and more recently, several visits to his house in Oxford. Through good fortune in 1980 I ended up studying frog behavioural ecology in Neville Passmore’s lab in South Africa and shortly after hearing what Tim and others were saying at the 1st World Congress of Herpetology in Canterbury 9 years later, I felt the need to investigate potential amphibian declines in southern Africa so I initiated the Southern African Frog Atlas Project. 

Fast forward to 2011 when I was appointed as the Chief Scientist of the then newly formed Amphibian Survival Alliance (ASA) and Tim was one of the first people I felt I needed to consult with to get a really good grasp on the global amphibian conservation crisis. Over the intervening years I have had the privilege to visit Tim and his lovely wife Carolyn, marvel at Tim’s amazing artwork (many pieces now adorn the walls of my home and office), share some great meals, wine and even some TOAD gin (TOAD stands for The Oxford Artisan Distillery—Oxford’s first ever gin and it seems so appropriate that Tim has a gin called TOAD in his very own home town, spiritoftoad.com)! Tim provided some much-needed guidance in these early days of the ASA and I am so happy that we were able to dedicate this edition of FrogLog to such a deserving hero of amphibian conservation. The toads and the toad-lovers thank Tim for all his hard work to ensure that amphibians will still be around for many generations to come. I am sure you will really enjoy this edition of FrogLog; amphibians need people to help them survive and in this edition you will read about some of the great people involved and the instrumental role that Tim Halliday has played in amphibian conservation.

Phil Bishop
Co-Chair, IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group
Chief Scientist, Amphibian Survival Alliance

TABLE OF CONTENTS

3 – Editorial

TIM HALLIDAY: AMPHIBIAN AMBASSADOR

5 – Reflections on the DAPTF

7 – Newt Scientist

8 – Tim Halliday—The Red-Shoed Amphibian Professor

9 – Bringing Worldwide Amphibian Declines into the Public Domain

10 – Of Newts and Frogs

12 – Professor Tim Halliday: Amphibians’ Best Friend

13 – Tim Halliday’s Love of Amphibians

14 – “There once was a frog from Sri Lanka…”

15 – Leading by Example

16 – Fish Became Newts…

17 – An International Ambassador for Amphibians

18 – “I’m sorry I missed your talk…”

19 – Tim Halliday and AmphibiaWeb

20 – Tim Halliday and the Conservation of Italian Newts

21 – Tim Halliday – Amphibian Champion

22 – Singing hallidayi’s…!

23 – A Voice of Encouragement – Thank you Tim!

NEWS FROM THE ASA & ASG

24 – Funding Metamorphoses Amphibian Red Listing: An Update From the Amphibian RLA

25 – Photographing Frogs and Other Amphibians” Ebook

26 – ASG Brazil Restructuring Process and Current Activities

27 – Business in Key Biodiversity Areas: Minimizing the Risk to Nature

28 – Amphibians in Focus (ANFoCO):  Brazilian Symposium on Amphibian Conservation

NEWS FROM THE AMPHIBIAN COMMUNITY

29 – Queensland Lab Turns to Chytrid-Fighting Genes to Save Species on the Brink

31 – New Children’s Books by Amphibian Ark

32 – Why We Need More Amphibian-Focused Protected Areas

33 – No Pain, No Gain in the Search for this Lost Frog

35 – A Conservation Strategy for the Amphibians of Madagascar: Where are we now?

37 – Keeping Asian Black-spined Toads Duttaphrynus melanostictus out of Australia

40 – Comments on the Swabbing of Anuran Tadpoles for the Detection of Infectious Diseases

41 – Conservation Needs Assessments for Malaysian Amphibians

42 – A European Early Warning System for a Deadly Salamander Pathogen 

44 – In Search of the Giant of the Pampas: Gathering Conservation Efforts in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay

47 – Against the Odds: Panama’s Lost Frogs Cling to Life in Bd’s Wake