Dead Frogs Research Articles

Broad-scale pesticide screening finds anticoagulant rodenticide and legacy pesticides in Australian frogs

Pesticide contamination poses a significant threat to non-target wildlife, including amphibians, many of which are already highly threatened. This study assessed the extent of pesticide exposure in dead frogs collected during a mass mortality event across eastern New South Wales, Australia between July 2021 and March 2022. Liver tissue from 77 individual frogs of six species were analysed for >600 legacy and contemporary pesticides, including rodenticides. More than a third (36 %) of the liver samples contained at least one of the following pesticides: brodifacoum, dieldrin, DDE, heptachlor/heptachlor epoxide, fipronil sulfone, and 2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (MCPA). Brodifacoum, a second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide, was found in four of the six frog species analysed: the eastern banjo frog (Limnodynastes dumerilii), cane toad (Rhinella marina), green tree frog (Litoria caerulea) and Peron's tree frog (Litoria peronii). This is the first report of anticoagulant rodenticide detected in wild amphibians, raising concerns about potential impacts on frogs and extending the list of taxa shown to accumulate rodenticides. Dieldrin, a banned legacy pesticide, was also detected in two species: striped marsh frog (Limnodynastes peronii) and green tree frog (Litoria caerulea). The toxicological effects of these pesticides on frogs are difficult to infer due to limited comparable studies; however, due to the low frequency of detection the presence of these pesticides was not considered a major contributing factor to the mass mortality event. Additional research is needed to investigate the effects of pesticide exposure on amphibians, particularly regarding the impacts of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides. There is also need for continued monitoring and improved conservation management strategies for the mitigation of the potential threat of pesticide exposure and accumulation in amphibian populations.

Avatar vs. Artist

Climbing, climbing the circular staircase of a decaying art deco apartment house, a throwback to Old Shanghai’s grandeur in the 1930s, I felt like I was stepping back in time. It was fall of 2011, and I was accompanied by a twenty-seven-year-old artist named Lu Yang who led me on this upward trek to a studio. As Lu Yang opened the green door to the space, I was immediately thrown forward from the past to the future. The darkened room was packed with computer monitors flickering with the running text of chatrooms. Aquariums, filled with dead frogs floating in formaldehyde, gave off an eerie green light. There were no sketches or paintings or anything like traditional art making. What an awakening! I realized that this was the kind of art I had been searching for on my trips to China since 2004. I was looking for an artist whose work reflected the enormous upheaval of the Reform era, the influx of Western goods, the possibilities of the internet, and the shock to the psyche that these changes had wrought. Lu Yang completely fit the bill.

Land snails feeding on dead frogs

Land snails feeding on dead frogs

Rane morte viventi e Vite in una goccia d'acqua . Sopravvivenze del passato nei primi film scientifici:

Crossing centuries Lives in a drop of water, Anguillulae Aceti and Fresh-water Hydras; living dead frogs, ten feet tall fleas and well-trained flies; bow-tied chemists, barker-like scientists and Scientia… a whole popular science series that borrows the name from a luna park stand. In aiming at the objective visualization of a pure phenomenon, scientific film is supposed to be free from any history, any tradition, any (linguistic) heritage, any intertextuality. It is surprising to find out that it is not always true. By the “instructive amusement” imperative which first popular science series borrowed from Positivism, it seems then to get the grips with some survivances of dusty fairground stands, of maravigliosi optical games, of evolving cabinets de physique. Can scientific film show how cinema has remediated its ancestors? Can it teach us something about the unsuspected love of the 1920s avant-garde for the past, about their “dialectical” tension?

A First Second Thought: Bring on the Irony

Editors:A reporter once asked Bob Dylan what his songs meant. His response: “I'm the first to put it to you and the last to explain it to you.” Humor works kind of like that; you either get the punch line to “Where was Moses when the candle went out?” or you don't. You are in the dark if laughter doesn't emerge—unless, of course, you've been trained like the Navajo children that Jennifer Hughes mentions. Like Dylan (pretty funny fellow himself), writers of humor (or if you prefer “humorists,” Mr. Wuster, or “satirists,” Mr. Caron) often fail to supply a satisfactory explanation either. Still, it never stops us scholars from trying to shed light on what these writers of humor produce—that inexplicable thing called humor, all in the hopes of not producing the inevitable “dead frog” that E. B. White warned us of. (Note: to my mind, no one produced a lifeless amphibian in this issue.) Yet, as long as we have literature that produces laughter, we'll have those who want to explain how it works or what it does. And that's OK. The folks writing in the issue of StAH 4.2 titled “The Assault of Laughter” (all of whom I know and admire—well, maybe not Wuster and Caron) know their stuff. But their arguments hinge on terminology, free-floating signifiers, (a deconstructionist's dream), so I offer a “second thought” about the “terminological chaos” to which Judith Yaross Lee refers.Just as Bruce Michelson makes a bid to recover and reconsider “wit” as a neglected, and possibly stable, term, I'd like to get in a word for irony as more than a rhetorical trope or a technical device such as parody, travesty, burlesque, lampoon, caricature, epigram, fable, and mock-epic used only in service to satire. If Caron can supplement Wuster's valorizing of Twain as “mere humorist” by elevating Twain as satirist, I'd like to invoke Twain as ironist. In his book Mark Twain: The Gift of Humor (2015), Harold H. Kolb Jr. divides Twain's humor into three periods: the comic (early career), the satiric (middle), and the ironic (late), with much bleeding over from one period to another.These phases of humor (comic, satiric, and ironic) have clear corollaries with Aristotle's types of humans as they relate to the emotions and moral qualities that correspond to our various ages. The young have strong passions and gratify themselves indiscriminately, with hot tempers and hopeful dispositions. Fond of fun, they are therefore witty.So what do we do with that laughter that comes from places of discomfort and agitation, yet has no clear satiric end in sight, no ridicule to reform? First, we assent to Holger Kersten's claim that humor isn't the social corrective that we'd like to think it is. The assault of laughter doesn't change political views, religious beliefs, or social injustices. Second, once we realize that it can't make change, we recognize the irony that we thought it could. Now that's something the “mere humorist” Twain understood. Twain as satirist doesn't help us as much as Twain as ironist does in works such as “Extracts from Adam's Diary,” “Eve's Diary,” “Little Bessie,” or The Mysterious Stranger manuscripts. And please tell me I'm not the only one who finds humor (and laughter) in these pieces.As the late, great David Rakoff wrote, “Not being funny doesn't make you a bad person. Not having a sense of humor does.”3 And you don't need to know all the shades of terminology to not be a bad person. So for humor's sake, let's stick with humor as our umbrella term and keep finding all the ways that Twain is a “mere humorist.” We scholars of humor get the irony of that term and will keep writing until everyone else catches up. For it is, as Jeffery Melton argues, channeling his inner Dylan, all in the audience. Humorists are the first to put it to us but the last to explain it to us. Thus, we scholars beat on, hi-ho. To close this second thought: thank you to this group of smart folks for producing in this Mark Twain special issue if not a celebrated jumping frog of humor scholarship at least a limping and alive one.Sincerely (but also ironically),Ben ClickProfessor of English, St. Mary's College of MarylandEditor, Mark Twain Annual

A Case of Scavenging Behavior by the Japanese Rice Frog,Fejervarya kawamurai(Amphibia: Anura: Dicroglossidae)

Abstract: Most of metamorphosed terrestrial frogs feed only on moving organisms and rarely exhibit scavenging behavior in nature. We here report a case of scavenging by the Japanese Rice Frog, Fejervarya kawamurai, which fed on a dead Black-spotted Frog, Pelophylax nigromaculatus at the edge of paddy field in central Japan. This observation is the first case of Fejervarya, feeding on a dead animal in nature and is an important addition to the cases of this unique behavior, which has been reported only for limited number of anuran species so far. In contrast, the behavior is more often reported for frogs in captivity, and F. kawamurai may be a useful species for examining scavenging behavior in post metamorphic anurans.

The Only Things You Will Find in the Middle of the Road Are Double Yellow Lines, Dead Frogs, and Electoral Leverage:

ABSTRACT The Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, from its very inception, attracted visionaries, exiles, pacifists, and warriors—often united only by their suspicion of an overly assertive government. Over the course of the past four centuries, the Mid-Atlantic engendered melting-pot politics and a spirit of private initiative—allowing for partnerships with government when necessary. The middle of the Eastern Seaboard ultimately influenced the political culture of the middle of America—helping to bind the North together during the Civil War, laying the foundation for the New Deal, and continuing to influence national elections through the twenty-first century.

Epidemic ranaviral disease in imported captive frogs (Dendrobates and Phyllobates spp.), Japan, 2012: a first report

Introduction: Ranavirus infection is associated with mass die‐off and population decline in amphibians worldwide, and is listed by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) as a notifiable disease under the Aquatic Animal Health Code. Work is ongoing to control the spread of ranavirus, because this agent is considered an emerging pathogen of amphibians. In Japan, ranaviral diseases have been detected at each episode of die‐off of wild bullfrog juveniles since 2008. However, ranaviral disease has not been found in captive anurans. Case presentation: Epidemic and lethal ranaviral disease in captive Dendrobates and Phyllobates species imported from the Netherlands is reported. Poison dart frogs of three genera were imported from the Netherlands in March 2012. Disease and death were noted approximately 10 days after importation. Fifty‐three adults of five species died in about 1 month, including frogs that had been kept previously. Microscopic examination revealed necrosis and intracytoplasmic basophilic inclusion bodies in the parenchyma of multiple organs. Electron microscopy showed cytoplasmic ranavirus‐like particles within haematopoietic cells of the kidney. These particles were icosahedral, with a diameter of approximately 144 nm. Thirty‐three of 41 dead frogs showed positive PCR results for the major capsid protein gene of Ranavirus. The sequence obtained from five frogs was identical and did not match the registered sequence of any ranavirus. Conclusion: This is the first report, to our knowledge, of ranaviral disease in imported anurans of the family Dendrobatidae and genera Phyllobates and Dendrobates in Japan.

Morbidity and mortality of the Critically Endangered Lake Oku clawed frog Xenopus longipes

ESR Endangered Species Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials ESR 21:115-128 (2013) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00514 Morbidity and mortality of the Critically Endangered Lake Oku clawed frog Xenopus longipes T. M. Doherty-Bone1,8,*, R. K. Ndifon2, O. N. Nyingchia2, F. E. Landrie3, F. T. Yonghabi3, A. L. J. Duffus4,9, S. Price4, M. Perkins4, J. Bielby4, N. B. Kome5, M. LeBreton6, L. N. Gonwouo7, A. A. Cunningham4 1Department of Zoology, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK 2Oku Fon’s Palace, Elak-Oku, North West Region, Cameroon 3Belo Rural Development Project, Belo, North West Region, Cameroon 4Institute of Zoology, Regents Park, London NW1 4RY, UK 5Institute of Agricultural Research for Development, Ekona, South West Province, Cameroon 6Global Viral Forecasting Initiative-Cameroon, CRESAR, Yaoundé, Cameroon 7Cameroon Herpetology-Conservation Biology Foundation (CAMHERP-CBF), PO Box 8218, Yaoundé, Cameroon 8Present address: School of Geography and School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK 9Present address: Division of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Gordon State College, Barnesville, Georgia 30204, USA *Email: tommy_dbone@yahoo.com ABSTRACT: Between 2006 and 2010, recurring morbidity and mortality of the endemic Lake Oku clawed frog Xenopus longipes was observed at its only known locality, Lake Oku, Cameroon. During repeated visits in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010, we found large numbers of dead frogs around the lake shore, as well as a higher than expected prevalence of diseased frogs. No significant relationships between disease occurrence and environmental parameters were found, with the exception of a significant but unexplained association between phosphate concentration and disease incidence. Tissue samples from X. longipes collected during 3 field seasons were negative for the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) using a Bd-specific real-time PCR test, although other species of sympatric amphibians were positive for this pathogen. Only 1 of 48 tissue samples from diseased frogs was positive for ranavirus infection using a ranavirus-specific PCR, suggesting that this pathogen is not necessarily the cause of this disease. No evidence of pathogens was found in tissues examined histologically from 10 X. longipes which had been collected and fixed when freshly dead. The cause(s) of the morbidities and mortalities remain(s) unknown, as does their consequence to the population of this Critically Endangered species. Identifying the causative factor(s) of the X. longipes mortality and its impact on the population is crucial for planning conservation actions. KEY WORDS: Amphibian declines · Disease · Limnology · Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis · Ranavirus · Cameroon Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Doherty-Bone TM, Ndifon RK, Nyingchia ON, Landrie FE and others (2013) Morbidity and mortality of the Critically Endangered Lake Oku clawed frog Xenopus longipes . Endang Species Res 21:115-128. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00514 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in ESR Vol. 21, No. 2. Online publication date: August 13, 2013 Print ISSN: 1863-5407; Online ISSN: 1613-4796 Copyright © 2013 Inter-Research.

Long-term study of an infection with ranaviruses in a group of edible frogs (Pelophylax kl. esculentus) and partial characterization of two viruses based on four genomic regions

Several edible frogs (Pelophylax kl. esculentus) collected into a single group from various ponds in Europe died suddenly with reddening of the skin (legs, abdomen) and haemorrhages in the gastrointestinal tract. Ranavirus was detected in some of the dead frogs using PCR, and virus was also isolated in cell culture. Over the following 3years, another two outbreaks occurred with low to high mortality in between asymptomatic periods. In the first 2years, the same ranavirus was detected repeatedly, but a new ranavirus was isolated in association with the second mass-mortality event.The two different ranaviruses were characterized based on nucleotide sequences from four genomic regions, namely, major capsid protein, DNA polymerase, ribonucleoside diphosphate reductase alpha and beta subunit genes. The sequences showed slight variations to each other or GenBank entries and both clustered to the Rana esculenta virus (REV-like) clade in the phylogenetic analysis. Furthermore, a quiescent infection was demonstrated in two individuals. By comparing samples taken before and after transport and caging in groups it was possible to identify the pond of origin and a ranavirus was detected for the first time in wild amphibians in Germany.

A Tale of Two Perils

A Tale of Two Perils

Not different is not the same as the same: how can we tell?

Key Points calvin coolidge was a taciturn president of the United States, nicknamed “Silent Cal”. When told that he had died, the acerbic writer Dorothy Parker remarked, “How could they tell?” Telling if something has not happened is a perennial problem in science, particularly so in

Spatial contagion drives colonization and recruitment of frogflies on clutches of red-eyed treefrogs

Spatial contagion occurs when the perceived suitability of neighbouring habitat patches is not independent. As a result, organisms may colonize less-preferred patches near preferred patches and avoid preferred patches near non-preferred patches. Spatial contagion may thus alter colonization dynamics as well as the type and frequency of post-colonization interactions. Studies have only recently documented the phenomenon of spatial contagion and begun to examine its consequences for local recruitment. Here, we test for spatial contagion in the colonization of arboreal egg clutches of red-eyed treefrogs by a frogfly and examine the consequences of contagion for fly recruitment. In laboratory choice experiments, flies oviposit almost exclusively on clutches containing dead frog eggs. In nature, however, flies often colonize intact clutches without dead eggs. Consistent with predictions of contagion-induced oviposition, we found that flies more frequently colonize intact clutches near damaged clutches and rarely colonize intact clutches near other intact clutches. Moreover, contagion appears to benefit flies. Flies survived equally well and suffered less parasitism on clutches lacking dead eggs. This study demonstrates how reward contagion can influence colonization dynamics and suggests that colonization patterns caused by contagion may have important population- and community-level consequences.

The distribution and host range of the pandemic disease chytridiomycosis in Australia, spanning surveys from 1956–2007

Chytridiomycosis is the worst disease to affect vertebrate biodiversity on record. In Australia, it is thought to have caused the extinction of four frog species, and it threatens the survival of at least 10 more. We report the current distribution and host range of this invasive disease in Australia, which is essential knowledge for conservation management. We envisage that the data be used in a global and national context for predictive modeling, meta‐analyses, and risk assessment. Our continent‐wide data set comprises 821 sites in Australia and includes 10 183 records from >80 contributors spanning collection dates from 1956 to 2007. Sick and dead frogs from the field and apparently healthy frogs from museum collections were tested opportunistically for the presence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, the fungal pathogen causing chytridiomycosis, and apparently healthy frogs and tadpoles found during surveys were tested purposively. The diagnostic tests used were histology of skin samples and quantitative PCR of skin swabs. Chytridiomycosis was found in all Australian states and the Australian Capital Territory, but not in the Northern Territory. Currently it appears to be confined to the relatively cool and wet areas of Australia, such as along the Great Dividing Range and adjacent coastal areas in the eastern mainland states of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, eastern and central Tasmania, southern South Australia, and southwestern Western Australia. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis may have been introduced into Australia via the port of Brisbane around 1978 and spread northward and southward. It did not appear to arrive in Western Australia until 1985. The earliest records from South Australia and Tasmania are from 1995 and 2004, respectively, although archival studies from these states are lacking. We also report negative findings showing that the disease does not currently occur in some areas that appear to be environmentally suitable, including Cape York Peninsula in Queensland and most of the World Heritage Area in western Tasmania. Infection with B. dendrobatidis has been recorded from 63 frog species in Australia to date, all belonging to the Hylidae, Limnodynastidae, and Myobatrachidae, with the exception of one individual of a species from the Microhylidae and the introduced cane toad of the family Bufonidae.The complete data sets corresponding to abstracts published in the Data Papers section of the journal are published electronically in Ecological Archives at 〈http://esapubs.org/archive〉. (The accession number for each Data Paper is given directly beneath the title.)

Amphibian Chytridiomycosis in the Oregon Spotted Frog (RANA PRETIOSA) IN WASHINGTON STATE, USA

In recent years Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), a chytridiomycete fungus pathogenic to amphibians (Longcore and others 1999), has been implicated as the proximate cause of amphibian declines around the world (Berger and others 1998; Daszak and others 2003; Muths and others 2003; Pounds and others 2006). Despite the insidious nature of Bd (Green and others 2002), few published data exist addressing its occurrence in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). When Pearl and others (2007) opportunistically examined 7 PNW amphibian species, they found Bd most often (57% of 21 individuals from 14 sampled populations) in the highly aquatic Oregon Spotted Frog (Rana pretiosa), an Endangered Species in Washington State (WDFW 2009). However, all R. pretiosa they sampled were from Oregon, and Bd was not detected in the Rana cascadae (Cascades Frog) and Anaxyrus boreas (Western Toad) specimens they sampled from Washington. Here, we report the detection of Bd in R. pretiosa from Washington. Since 1997 and 1998, respectively, we have been monitoring R. pretiosa populations at the Trout Lake Natural Area Preserve (TLNAP: UTM Zone 10, 610857-612950E, 5095880-5097574N, WGS84; elev. 594 to 599 m) and Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge (CLNWR: UTM Zone 10, 625223-635180E, 5086652-5095491N, WGS84; elev. 552 to 576 m), in Klickitat County, Washington. These sites represent 2 of only 3 areas where R. pretiosa is known to occur in Washington (McAllister and Leonard 1997). At both sites, monitoring included egg mass surveys during the annual breeding season following snowmelt (late February to mid-March at CLNWR; midMarch to early April at TLNAP). Surveys involved area-specific counts of individual egg masses and egg mass groups, each of which was marked with flags and geo-referenced using a Geographic Positioning System (GPS) to avoid double-counting. Sampling at CLNWR addressed 4 hydrologically distinct units, which were surveyed repeatedly until no new egg masses were found; at TLNAP, 3 units consistently used for breeding were sampled. We inferred a 1:1 correspondence between egg mass numbers and number of breeding females based on a combination of our direct observations of oviposition (n 5 13), the recapture of non-gravid females known to have laid eggs (n 5 84), and the relatively short interval over which the laying of new egg masses occurs (about 3 wk). Collectively, these data indicate that females lay only 1 clutch annually, and that egg mass numbers reflect the effective population numbers of adult females. Decline in egg mass numbers in 3 of the 4 surveyed units at CLNWR from 2004 to 2005 (Fig. 1) and 2 of the 3 units at TLNAP over the same period (Fig. 2), coupled with the increasing recognition of Bd as a cause of amphibian declines, motivated us to collect dead frogs found during 2006 and test them for Bd. Five dead adult R. pretiosa were tested for Bd; 1 from CLNWR and 4 from TLNAP. The CLNWR specimen collected on 13 March 2006 displayed feeble vital signs, minimal response to touch, and righting response was lacking. The frog died within 20 min of discovery, was preserved in 10% formalin, and then stored in 70% ethanol before histological examination using a standard wet-mount preparation of its epidermal tissue (Berger and others 1999), which was sloughing extensively as multiple epidermal layers. A dead adult female R. GENERAL NOTES

Ranavirus in wild edible frogs Pelophylax kl. esculentus in Denmark

A survey for the amphibian pathogens ranavirus and Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) was conducted in Denmark during August and September 2008. The public was encouraged via the media to register unusual mortalities in a web-based survey. All members of the public that registered cases were interviewed by phone and 10 cases were examined on suspicion of disease-induced mortality. All samples were negative for Bd. Ranavirus was isolated from 2 samples of recently dead frogs collected during a mass mortality event in an artificial pond near Slagelse, Denmark. The identity of the virus was confirmed by immunofluorescent antibody test. Sequencing of the major capsid protein gene showed the isolate had more than 97.3% nucleotide homology to 6 other ranaviruses.

Chytridiomycosis in an Aquarium Collection of Frogs: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Control

The introduction of a new group of dendrobatid frogs to an established captive amphibian collection was followed by several acute mortalities in both resident and introduced frog populations. Chytridiomycosis, caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, was diagnosed by histology in two of the dead frogs. Following the diagnosis, all amphibians were moved to a specially made quarantine room with strict handling protocols and treated with itraconazole. Frogs, being terrestrial amphibians, were treated with itraconazole (Sporanox, 10 mg/ml) at 0.01% in 0.6% saline in a 5-min bath for 11 consecutive days. Axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum) and Kaup's caecilians (Potymotyphlus kaupii), being aquatic amphibians, were treated with itraconazole administered directly in their primary tank water to achieve a concentration of 0.01% for 30 min every 5 days for four treatments. Itraconazole was removed from the tank water after 30 min by high-rate-of-flow activated charcoal filters. The treatment and quarantine procedures were successful in eradicating the disease. The few amphibian mortalities that occurred in the 18 mo after the start of the treatment have been histologically negative for the presence of chytrid fungi. The collection is now considered free of chytridiomycosis.

Effects of a paved road on mortality and mobility of red bellied toads (Melanophryniscus sp.) in Argentinean grasslands

Abstract Melanophryniscus sp. is an endemic toad restricted to Sierra de la Ventana, in the Argentine Pampas. Part of its reproductive habitat is crossed by a paved road. We studied the effects of the road on the mortality and mobility of the toads. During the days following rain, we surveyed transects on both sides of the road, capturing, photographing and immediately releasing each toad. Population size in the area was estimated in 1074 individuals (871 to 1363, 95% CI) by means of mark-recapture analysis. We found fifteen individuals killed by vehicles in the 2003-04 and ten in the 2004-05 reproductive seasons. This mortality represents from 2.5 to 5.9% of the population annually, considering that 73% of the mortality period was sampled and a detection rate of dead frogs of 40%. Other factors associated to roadside habitat, such as rapid drying of roadside ditches, maintenance work, increased frequency of fire, pollution by gas, oil and fuel emissions and losses from vehicles, and poaching as pets by tourists, may also reduce the survival of the toads. We recorded capture sites and calculated the average distance between captures as 33.04 m for males and 22.50 m for females. Only two of the 76 observations of recaptured toads were made on the opposite side of the road. Roads can be considered as having a significant impact on this species by augmenting mortality, hindering the mobility of the species and increasing habitat isolation.

How many frogs are killed on a road in North-east New South Wales?

Road impacts on Australian frogs are poorly documented. This limits our ability to predict which species may be vulnerable to impacts and to develop strategies for mitigating impacts. We conducted foot-based surveys for road-killed frogs along two 100-m sections of a road that traverses known frog habitat near Lennox Head, in north-eastern New South Wales. More than 1000 dead frogs were counted over 13 mornings. Two threatened species, the Wallum Sedge Frog Litoria olongburensis and the Wallum Froglet Crinia tinnula, accounted for at least 60% of these roadkills. It is estimated that in an average summer period, there would be ≯40,000 frogs killed on the 4-km span of road through the heathland habitat. That is, ≯10,000 road-kills of each of the Wallum Sedge Frog and Wallum Froglet. Research is needed to ascertain how severe this impact is on these isolated populations and to determine how road mortality of frogs can be minimized.

Dead frogs linked to global warming

Dead frogs linked to global warming