Amphibians of high elevation mountain lakes face many threats: climate change, novel pathogens, development, and over- exploitation; however, the presence of non-native fish is the most significant. A study in the Pyrenees (Miró et al 2020) found rapid natural recovery of amphibian communities when non-native fish were removed from eight study lakes and compared them to 56 nearby control lakes with and without fish. The fish-removal lakes achieved natural richness levels one year after fish removal began, and typical species abundances after three years (with the only exception of Rana temporaria). Colonization of removal lakes occurred only from residual populations in the same valley. This study provides another example that montane amphibian communities can recover rapidly after eliminating or reducing non-native fish, and bolsters this technique to help other endangered amphibians in similar habitats.
