2018 Frog Call Monitoring - That's a Wrap!

Greetings Frog Call Teams, The Rum Rum of the Bullfrog and the Gunk Gunk Gunk of the Green Frog are now silent. Frog mating season is over and it is a good time to reflect on this year's monitoring program and what we have learned so far. First and foremost, thank you for making this citizen science venture a huge success. Through your monitoring efforts we have gathered information that will not only contribute to our knowledge about Conservancy properties, but help track distribution and spatial trends province-wide. We definitely plan to continue and expand next year and we look forward to working with you all again.

April 24th: Jordyn Burns, Darlene VanOorschot, and Jane Brasher take their first frog monitoring visit to the Roehl wetland.

A Sneak Peek at Year One Results

So far in 2018 we've had a total of 137 sightings of frog or toad species on our properties, the bulk of which came from the Frog & Toad Call Monitoring Program. Click here to see the preliminary breakdown of that data.

Click on the map above to see the frog & toad species heard and observed at each property.

Ontario Nature Reptile & Amphibian Atlas Our first submission to Ontario Nature's Reptile & Amphibian Atlas (ORAA) was in July, and there will be one more in December. Your frog call reports now contribute to province's knowledge of amphibian abundance and species distribution. You can Click here to explore the Atlas. Helpful hints: Select a specific species, then a specific time frame. Click on the map square you are interested in. It will provide you with a list of sightings. For public consumption, the Atlas provides only "coarse" results to protect reptiles & amphibians from poaching. At the gathering Dec. 2nd, we will show you what your data looks like on the ORAA map.

What We Lose When We Lose the World's Frogs "During the great extinctions of the dinosaurs in the Pleistocene, amphibians made it through with no appreciable effect," Mendelson says. "So they're not the most delicate creatures in the world. But the world has gotten so bad now that even the amphibians can't tolerate it." Broadly, that's how it looks. But as with most stories of biology, this one is not so simple. Read more...

Photo Credits Header Image: Mel Tuck Jordyn, Darlene and Jane monitoring at Roehl Wetland: Dorthea Hangaard Northern Leopard Frog at Bluebird Ranch: John Wright American Toad in Mill Creek: Dorthea Hangaard Content Meagan Coughlin and Dorthea Hangaard

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