Herpetofauna (amphibians and reptiles) are the most threatened vertebrates on earth (IUCN, 2020), with current rates of extinction and decline for amphibians exceeding that of mammals, birds (Stuart et al., 2004; Baillie et al., 2004; Stuart et al., 2008), and fish (IUCN, 2020). About 32% of amphibian species assessed by IUCN Red List are threatened with extinction, compared to 21.3% of mammals, 17.9% of reptiles, 13.6% of fish and 13.3% of birds (IUCN, 2020). The decline in herpetofauna species has been mostly linked to habitat alteration, pollution, climate change and diseases (Channing et al., 2006; Lee et al., 2006; Stuart et al., 2008; Heatwole and Wilkinson 2009; Heatwole, 2013; Weldon et al., 2020), factors which have been recently escalated by human activities (Heatwole and Wilkinson 2009; Heatwole, 2013). Despite the existing global records on herpetofauna species decline, almost nothing has been done to reverse the situation (Stuart et al., 2004) with relatively little known on most threatened amphibian and rarely monitored as part of long-term studies. Decline of populations leads to a great probability of extinction, especially when the decline reach very small numbers which cannot support the species survival (Cebalos et al., 2020). In order to effectively conserve species, monitoring populations can assist in making informed decisions on appropriate conservation measures. More broadly, many wildlife advocates and conservation professionals rely on the proverbial 'canary in the coal mine' - monitoring and protecting a single representative species or group - to understand biodiversity of a community or even habitat/landscape. This project aims to look at threatened and endemic Eastern Arc Mountain‟s herpetofauna communities via local community involvement and whether long-term decline in populations revealing fundamental biodiversity changes.

More than 80% of Tanzanian endemic amphibians and reptiles are forest specialists, with about 70% of them being restricted to the Eastern Arc Mountains (EAM) (Frost, 2020; IUCN 2020; Uetz et al., 2020). These forests are not only important for herpetofauna conservation, but are also hotspots for other animal groups (Doggart et al., 2004; Burgess et al., 2007; Rovero et al., 2014; Gereau et al., 2016). These habitats also support large number of people, relying on them as water catchments (Doggart et al., 2004; Doggart and Loserian, 2007; URT, 2006). However, these valuable water catchment areas are among the most threatened areas (e.g. Hall et al., 2009; Howell et al., 2012; Gereau et al., 2016; Hamunyela et al., 2020). Only 30% of the original EAM size remains today (Burgess et al., 2007), with some forest patches being completely lost (Hall et al., 2009). The rate of change has been alarming in recent times due to population increase (Hamunyela et al., 2009). For example, 12% of destruction in Nguru and Uluguru Mountains occurred recently, between 2011 and 2017, and this was mostly due to subsistence farming (Hamunyela et al., 2020). Our knowledge on how these changes, many recent, are affecting endemic herpetofauna communities is almost completely lacking. Potentially many species are going extinct due to rapid loss of forest habitats and these extinctions are unrecorded. No long-term assessment of population trends for endemic squamates, buffonids and caecilians in the EAM has been carried out, despite the importance of this information for conservation purposes (e.g. Gower et al., 2013). A number of recent field visits to type localities for some hyper-endemics has not been successful in detecting them (e.g. Tonelli et al., 2017; Lyakurwa et al. 2019). This raises immediate concerns for the long term survival of the species and if environmental degradation is causing irreversible extinction. For example, N. poyntoni has not been recorded since 2003 despite number of efforts (Tonelli et al., 2017; Menegon et al., 2020). Even after 2017 when a number of field visit to type localities were unsuccessful in locating a single specimen. These anecdotal reports call for a detailed analysis of the ecology of these unique hyper-endemic groups – which potentially might reveal that changes are impacting biodiversity in these regions. This can then be used to infer, more broadly whether across taxonomic groups and throughout the country might be impacted. We suggest, the hyper-endemic herpetofauna of Tanzania will be the „canary in the mine‟ and whose presence or absence will be key to determining whether biodiversity change is happening or not. Beyond solving the taxonomic problems and detecting whether environmental change is impacting amphibian populations we need to provide longer term solutions in conservation. Solutions are needed for protecting species, and their habitats, based around the actions of local communities who, if empowered can provide conservation solutions. The project also aims to integrate local based people into the field surveys. In the longer term we aim to proof a system for locally based people to continue to conduct surveys, generating survey data to monitor local amphibian communities especially the ones that have been hard to locate during previous surveys– and provide reliable, consistent, and longer-term data on amphibians. This will include surveying transects for individuals and recording sounds. Some species are thought to have very brief times of activity which does not coincide with surveys and therefore long term monitoring by people who reside close to the forest might provide detailed information for conservation of these unique groups.

The project aim to highlight the taxonomic and conservation status facing amphibians in the Eastern Arc mountains, estimate population trends for key species over the last 30 years, and develop a system for local based people to do amphibian monitoring.