 When amphibian declines were first presented as a conservation issue in the late 1980s , some scientists remained unconvinced of the reality and gravity of the conservation issue . Some biologists argued that populations of most organisms , amphibians included , naturally vary through time . They argued that the lack of long @-@ term data on amphibian populations made it difficult to determine whether the anecdotal declines reported by biologists were worth the ( often limited ) time and money of conservation efforts . 
