Fire salamander offspring in the Ark project

To protect against a deadly fungus, a conservation and breeding project led by university biologist Sabrina Bleidißel is building up a reserve population of fire salamanders in cooperation with the Green Zoo and the Lower Nature Conservation Authority in Wuppertal.

Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, better known as Bsal, is a deadly fungus that dramatically decimates fire salamander populations. Dr Sabrina Bleidißel, a biologist at the University of Wuppertal, has been leading the nationwide unique ex-situ protection and conservation breeding programme for the native fire salamander, known as the 'Fire Salamander Ark Project' for short, since March 2021. She reports that salamander populations are declining because the habitat is becoming smaller and smaller, for example due to the development of new housing estates or road construction. But a major problem is the fungus, which has been spreading more and more in recent years and is bringing the population to its knees. The infected fire salamanders are very likely to die and the populations are collapsing as a result. In some places, entire fire salamander populations are disappearing and areas are suddenly devoid of these amphibians."

There are almost no fire salamanders left in the Burgholz forest area

The decline of the animals is also noticeable here in the Bergisch city-triangle. "Z. Around Müngsten, for example, there was a huge population of fire salamanders," says Bleidißel, "as well as here in Burgholz. Since the fungus arrived there, you hardly find any animals when you're out at night in the rain or wet weather. Old reports by the late Wuppertal herpetologist Joachim Pastors, who mapped the fire salamanders in the Burgholz in 1981, speak of 30 animals per 100 metres on a good night. "We often don't find any fire salamanders during our inspections in the Burgholz," says the biologist. "It's also evident from the fact that you can hardly find any larvae in the streams." During mapping in recent years, the scientist and her students were often only able to find individual larvae, which is too few to keep a population alive.

Fire salamander archaeological project unique in Germany

Several institutions have come together to save the native fire salamander in the 'Fire Sal amander Ark Project', the only pilot project of its kind in Germany. "This is a collaboration with the Green Zoo and the Lower Nature Conservation Authority of the City of Wuppertal. In the environment department, Karin Rikono, who initiated the project and fully supported it until her retirement, deserves special mention." In addition, several private entrepreneurs were also won over, such as the Iseke family from Kalkwerke Oetelshofen, who provided premises. "Without the support of numerous other stakeholders such as the zoo association, NABU Wuppertal, the Biostation Mittlere Wupper and many others, the project could not be realised in this form," explains the scientist.

The project is also unique due to the involvement of students in the care and maintenance of the fire salamanders. The biology students are involved in the project as part of their courses and final theses. Bleidißel explains that the students learn everything they need to know to be able to keep fire salamanders themselves later on. "With these skills, they can be put to good use in schools that keep animals. A good example is vivarium schools such as the Wilhelm-Dörpfeld-Gymnasium in Wuppertal. Pupils there are involved in keeping the animals and look after them as part of working groups."

Animals are taken from the wild

To protect the fire salamanders, animals are taken from the wild with special precautions. "We do this by paying close attention to hygiene," says Bleidißel. "When we go into the forest, our shoes are disinfected and when we come out, we disinfect them again. In the Ark Project, we take fire salamander larvae or adults from the wild in Wuppertal. They first go into quarantine at the Green Zoo." There, the animals are then swabbed with a cotton swab and molecularly tested for the fungus. If this swab is negative, they are quarantined at the university for 60 days. After quarantine, they are tested again for the fungus. "If they are healthy, they are then moved to a suitable room on the Oetelshofen lime works site for permanent housing." The room in Oetelshofen is full of terrariums and boxes for the fire salamanders. The containers have various structures with moss, tree hollows and stones. There is also soil as a substrate and water bowls. On site, the students look after the animals' welfare under the guidance of the project partners. The facility can accommodate up to 100 animals.

Animals from the Scharpenacken have had offspring

So far, the scientists are keeping around 50 animals at the rescue centre in Oetelshofen. "The animals from the Scharpenacken have already had offspring at the Ark. We have 18 young animals so far," says the biologist happily. The scientists also regularly test the area on the Wuppertal Südhöhen for bsal. "We do this by taking water samples and using eDNA to see if the fungus is there. Fortunately, we haven't been able to detect it there yet."

Protection against Bsal almost impossible

Last autumn, a large, healthy population of fire salamanders was discovered on a 30-hectare site in the district of Passau. When asked whether it is possible to keep the fungus away from a healthy biotope, Bleidißel replies: "I would say no!" It simply takes luck, because even in Wuppertal there are still areas that are not far away from Bsal outbreak sites and are Bsal-free. "The Scharpenacken is still clean". As long as the fungus is raging in Germany, all we can do is try to contain the disease. "I think our ex-situ measures, i.e. measures where the animals go from the wild to institutionalised husbandry, help to maintain local reserve populations," explains Bleidißel. Equally important are public relations and educational work to sensitise the population and habitat improvements for amphibians. "Only then do specimens still living in the wild have a chance of surviving."

A fire salamander crosses the hiking trail

Nature lovers can also support the 'Fire Salamander Ark Project'. So if you see a fire salamander, says the biologist, the first rule is: "Don't touch it. Take a photo and report it to the responsible biostation (only in NRW) or the nature conservation authority. My favourite method is to document the animals I find using the identification app Obsidentify. The finds go into the database and are then openly accessible." So if a walker finds an animal on the Scharpenacken and records it, the researchers can later see if there are any more finds and then document the results for the project.

Support the project via the donation page:
https://kooperation.uni-wuppertal.de/de/bergischer-feuersalamander/

Further information can be found at:
https://www.lanuk.nrw.de/fileadmin/lanuvpubl/4_arbeitsblaetter/Anlage_1_-_Liste_der_regionalen_Bsal-Ansprechpersonen.pdf
https://nabu-naturgucker.de/meldeportal/naturbeobachtungen-melden/bsal/
https://observation.org/bioblitz/17625/bioblitz-campus-grifflenberg-2025/
https://www.lanuk.nrw.de/themen/natur/artenschutz/amphibienkrankheiten

Uwe Blass

Dr Sabrina Bleidißel works as an Academic Councillor in the Zoology and Didactics of Biology working group at the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Wuppertal