In 2013, Arizona’s rare leopard frogs were under threat from invasive bullfrogs, but by 2019 conservationists had expanded their recovery network from 7 sites to 19

In 2013, Arizona’s rare leopard frogs were under threat from invasive bullfrogs, but by 2019 conservationists had expanded their recovery network from 7 sites to 19

The Arizona project began with a problem that was easy to see but difficult to solve. American bullfrogs had established themselves in the Cienega Creek watershed, where they could prey on Chiricahua leopard frogs and carry the fungal disease chytridiomycosis. The response involved more than removing the invasive frogs. Managers also had to keep them … Read more

Southern California once had so many of these mountain frogs that people could barely avoid stepping on them; now about 650 were released back into the wild

Southern California once had so many of these mountain frogs that people could barely avoid stepping on them; now about 650 were released back into the wild

In the streams of Southern California’s mountains, the southern mountain yellow-legged frog has had a difficult few decades. The species was once far more widespread, with historic accounts describing streams where frogs were so numerous that people could scarcely move without stepping around them. Finding them in the wild is a very different proposition; their … Read more

In 2001, California began removing non-native trout from high-Sierra lakes; by 2011 nearly 44,000 fish were removed from 19 lakes, as frogs in three restoration lakes rose from about 190 to over 18,800

In 2001, California began removing non-native trout from high-Sierra lakes; by 2011 nearly 44,000 fish were removed from 19 lakes, as frogs in three restoration lakes rose from about 190 to over 18,800

High in California’s Sierra Nevada, a conservation project changed the future of a disappearing amphibian. In 2001, staff at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks began removing non-native trout from selected lakes and streams, restoring water bodies that had historically been home to mountain yellow-legged frogs but were naturally fishless. By 2011, nearly 44,000 trout … Read more

Scientists searched for threatened Australian rainforest frogs without seeing or hearing them; DNA in creek water collected up to 22 km downstream revealed populations in places where the frogs had disappeared

Scientists searched for threatened Australian rainforest frogs without seeing or hearing them; DNA in creek water collected up to 22 km downstream revealed populations in places where the frogs had disappeared

​Photos of a study species: the Australian Lace-lid (L. dayi)Photo credit: Conrad J Hoskin. In the cool, wet upland streams of Queensland’s Wet Tropics, several species of rainforest frog were pushed to the brink in the 1980s and 1990s by chytrid fungus, an aquatic pathogen that attacks frog skin and has driven extinctions worldwide. For … Read more