{"id":2896,"date":"2021-10-25T16:25:36","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T06:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=2896"},"modified":"2021-10-11T16:28:07","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T06:28:07","slug":"australian-frog-species-at-risk-of-extinction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?p=2896","title":{"rendered":"Australian frog species at risk of extinction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Due\nto their sensitivity to changing environmental and climate conditions frogs are\nconsidered one of the bellwether species by many scientists and ecologists, and\na recently published study in Pacific Conservation Biology <\/em>has\nidentified 26 of Australia\u2019s frogs are at the greatest risk of extinction\nunless urgent management and conservation measures are established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nresearch was undertaken by the Threatened Species Recovery Hub which is part of\nthe federal government\u2019s National Environmental Science Program, and included a\nteam of 29 scientists from universities, government agencies, zoos, and museums\nacross the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of\nthe most at-risk frog species researchers consider four are already extinct,\nfour are \u2018hanging on in the wild but are likely to be extinct by 2040\u2019, and a\nfurther five species are at \u2018moderate risk\u2019 of extinction by 2040. The\namphibians suffer from a range of threats according to senior author Graeme\nGillespie, Senior Director of the Northern Territory\u2019s Department of\nEnvironment, Parks and Water Security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChytridiomycosis\nand climate change are the primary threats to Australian frogs. Habitat loss,\nchanged fire patterns, invasive fish and pigs are also major threats to some\nspecies. Chytrid has played a major role in many of the extinctions and\ndeclines that have already occurred and remains a key threat to frog\npopulations closest to extinction,\u201d Gillespie said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmost severe threat is climate change through changed fire patterns, reduced\nrainfall, and habitat loss, and of the top 15 amphibian species considered most\nat risk, 10 are from Queensland where chytrid, climate change and feral pigs\nhave all contributed to the loss of frog species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-author\nConrad Hoskin, Senior Lecturer at James Cook University\u2019s Centre for Tropical\nEnvironmental and Sustainability Science, said although Queensland had a high\nfrog density, particularly in the coastal mountains, many populations were\ntiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany\nfrog species in Queensland have remarkably small distributions, sometimes the\ntop of a single mountain. These tiny areas have acted like upland arks for\nthese species over millennia, but disease and climate change are impacting\nthem. Our results show we are on the cusp of losing many of these remarkable\nspecies, and tragically some are probably gone already, so we need to urgently\nfind ways to stop others going extinct,\u201d Hoskin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South\nAustralian and Tasmanian frogs were not on the list which included nine at-risk\namphibian species in NSW, four in Victoria, and one each in the ACT, Northern\nTerritory and WA. The study found that the most important management actions needed\nto prevent extinctions, and to support populations to survive in the wild, were\nthe identification and development of refuge areas, and captive breeding\nprograms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-author\nMatthew West, Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne said refuges where\nthe threats facing species were naturally less or could be managed would allow\na frog population to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor\nexample, predatory non-native fish, like trout, are one of the major threats to\nthe spotted tree frog. A Victorian trial is working with recreational fishermen\nto remove these fish from a new refuge area for the frog. Captive breeding\nprograms are important to create an insurance population, in case the species\nbecomes extinct in the wild, and to breed frogs that can be released back to\nthe wild to boost wild populations, or start new populations in refuge areas,\u201d\nWest said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Captive\nbreeding programs are already underway for some species identified as being at-risk.\nThese include the white-bellied frog (Perth Zoo); spotted tree frog (Zoos\nVictoria); and northern corroboree frog (ACT Government). In addition to\nongoing support for these programs the study concluded it was also important\ncaptive breeding programs were established for other very vulnerable species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anne\nLayton-Bennett<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Due to their sensitivity to changing environmental and climate conditions frogs are considered one of the bellwether species by many scientists and ecologists, and a recently published study in Pacific Conservation Biology has identified 26 of Australia\u2019s frogs are at the greatest risk of extinction unless urgent management and conservation measures are established. The research […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[210,2257,221,2256],"class_list":["post-2896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-australia","tag-endangered-animals","tag-extinction","tag-frog"],"rise-blocks_total_comments":0,"rise-blocks_categories":[{"term_id":5,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":411,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":5,"category_count":411,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"rise-blocks_excerpt":"Due to their sensitivity to changing environmental and climate conditions frogs are considered one of the bellwether species by many scientists and ecologists, and a recently published study in Pacific Conservation Biology has identified 26 of Australia\u2019s frogs are at the greatest risk of extinction unless urgent management and conservation measures are established. The research was undertaken by the Threatened..","blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Spotted-tree-frog-JEAN-MARC-HERO-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"full":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Spotted-tree-frog-JEAN-MARC-HERO.jpeg",768,512,false]},"categories_names":{"5":{"name":"News","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?cat=5"}},"tags_names":{"210":{"name":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=australia"},"2257":{"name":"endangered animals","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=endangered-animals"},"221":{"name":"extinction","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=extinction"},"2256":{"name":"frog","link":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/?tag=frog"}},"comments_number":"0","wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Spotted-tree-frog-JEAN-MARC-HERO-150x150.jpeg",150,150,true],"cvmm-medium":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Spotted-tree-frog-JEAN-MARC-HERO.jpeg",300,200,false],"cvmm-medium-plus":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Spotted-tree-frog-JEAN-MARC-HERO.jpeg",305,203,false],"cvmm-portrait":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Spotted-tree-frog-JEAN-MARC-HERO.jpeg",400,267,false],"cvmm-medium-square":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Spotted-tree-frog-JEAN-MARC-HERO.jpeg",600,400,false],"cvmm-large":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Spotted-tree-frog-JEAN-MARC-HERO.jpeg",768,512,false],"cvmm-small":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Spotted-tree-frog-JEAN-MARC-HERO.jpeg",130,87,false],"full":["https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Spotted-tree-frog-JEAN-MARC-HERO.jpeg",768,512,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2898,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2896\/revisions\/2898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theveterinarian.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}