Survey and monitoring of the Spotted Tree Frog populations to inform conservation actions - Final Report on Little Brown Things Project Agreement 1

Date: 03, Sep, 2019
Author(s):   Matthew West
Publisher: TSR Hub

The Spotted Tree Frog, is a priority species under Zoos Victoria’s Fighting Extinction campaign. The species has already disappeared from 50% of known historic sites, is rare at all remaining sites and is predicted to continue to decline without intervention (West 2015). Currently Spotted Tree Frogs are listed as critically endangered in Victoria (DSE 2013) and endangered nationally under the EPBC Act 1999. Funding was recently secured by Zoos Victoria under a Little Brown Things Project to support Spotted Tree Frog recovery efforts. Proposed management interventions for Spotted Tree Frogs include identifying and creating safe-havens for frogs from key threatening processes: non-native fish predation and disease caused by chytrid fungus. Extensive surveying and monitoring for this species has occurred since the early 1990’s (Gillespie & Hollis 1996; West 2015). This work has been crucial for threat identification and can now be used to understand of the species population trajectory. Furthermore, the monitoring program is crucial for the evaluation of proposed management interventions.