2.07 Frogs and Wetlands
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Chapter 2.7 — Frogs and wetlands • 161 2.7 Frogs and wetlands Dr Arthur White Biosphere Environmental Consultants Pty Ltd Australia Abstract Australian frogs are remarkably diverse in their life styles and their use of wetlands. Our understanding of the ecological needs of frogs is incomplete but we do know some of the major requirements for survival, such as the need for clean water, the need for safe foraging areas, the need for shelter from predators and adverse weather conditions, the need for minimal habitat stress (as this increases the susceptibility of frogs to disease). The design of wetlands must take into account these over-riding requirements, plus the specific requirements that are unique to each frog species. In this paper, I refer to the management of the Green and Golden Bell Frog during the establishment of the Sydney Olympic site as an example of sorts of considerations that are required in managing frogs and wetlands. Chapter 2.7 — Frogs and wetlands • 162 Australian Frogs 2. Air pollution: massive amounts of Sulphur Dioxide and Nitrogen Dioxide (and There are about 250 described frog species in other gases) have been released into the Australia (Anstis 2013). This is a surprisingly high atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution. number of frog species for such an arid continent. These gases combine with moisture in the Australian frogs have had to adapt of the vagaries air and create toxic substances that kill frogs, of Australia’s climate and can survive in areas where other animals and plants. In the northern you would not expect them to be. Frogs can be hemisphere, this is often described as “acid found in from coast to coast, in the great desert rain”; that span central Australia, to the alpine areas of the Snowy Mountain Ranges, from the rainforests 3. Elevated UV levels caused by the reduction of of north Queensland to the very southern tip of the ozone layers. Eggs laid by frogs on land or Tasmania. The adaptability of frogs is their strength in shallow water will be sterilised by the high and it allows them to inhabit a range of wetland levels of incident UV; and (and not so wet) sites. 4. Disease: several new exotic diseases are All frogs need water to survive and to breed. In prevalent in Australian frogs. Many of these Australia, frogs cannot rely on predictable seasonal diseases are exacerbated by environmental rainfall (except for the monsoonal north) and so stress. In Australia, the main diseases of they have developed several strategies to help them concern are Frog Chytrid Disease, Ranavirus survive; such as: and Redlynchia. • Elongated life span; The combined impacts of these various factors has resulted in many frog extinctions and the • Increased mobility; reduction of many frog populations world-wide • Cryptic colouration and body patterns; (Stuart et al. 2004). • Cryptic behaviour; Frog Habitat Requirements • Water storing ability; and All frogs have essential habitat requirements, • Laying eggs on land (or carrying them). without which they cannot survive. These essential requirements include availability to clean water, Despite this armoury of survival skills, frogs are still food, shelter from extreme weather events in decline. and predators, safe movement corridors, low Global Decline of Frogs environmental stress and protection from disease (e.g. Wassens et al. 2008). Ever since humans started clearing land, damming rivers and changing the pattern of freshwater Access to Water and Water Quality flow in ecosystems and polluting the landscape, All amphibians have highly permeable skin. Thin, frogs have been in decline. However, in the 1980s permeable skin allows amphibians to absorb it became apparent that some other factor was in moisture directly from the air or moist surfaces operation that was responsible for the decline and without drinking. It also allows gases to pass across extinction of frogs in remote areas ranging from the the body lining, facilitating respiration. But having cloud forests of Costa Rica to the prairies of central a permeable skin also means that contaminants in America and parts of Australia. Frogs were dying water are readily absorbed and accepted into body and there was no apparent cause. tissues. Clean water is critical for survival. Over the last twenty years, a lot of research has In many urban and peri-urban areas, creek water is gone into frog declines and it appears that several often adversely affected by contaminated run-off; factors are at play (MacCallum 2007); the main either as agricultural run-off (which may contain factors being: pesticides, herbicides, high levels of organic wastes) or urban run-off (which may contain detergents, 1. Water pollution: tadpoles are extremely pesticides, sewage or oil-based chemicals). In sensitive to water-soluble chemicals and addition to these contaminants, urban run-off often can be killed when exposed to incredibly contains high levels of salt and silt. The combined low levels of certain pollutants. The worst effects of high nutrient run-off result in excessive pollutants are detergents, pesticides (such bacterial growth in water bodies and/or cyanophyte as insect sprays), herbicides and oil-based chemicals; Chapter 2.7 — Frogs and wetlands • 163 (blue-green algae) proliferation. These situations are lethal to frogs (see Tyler 1989 for a review of the impacts of pollutants on frogs). Food Resources Tadpole and frog’s food requirements are very different. Most tadpoles are herbivorous and feed by either swallowing free-floating algae or by rasping substrate-bound algae using their mouthparts. Some tadpoles may filter-feed and hence consume surface algae and bacteria in pond water. Frogs are predators. Most frogs feed primarily on terrestrial or flying insects, although other invertebrates are also taken. Larger frogs may consume small vertebrates, such as small rodents, lizards, fledgling birds and bats. Frogs mainly hunt at night and rely on their ability to detect slight movements at night. Foraging frogs are at risk of predation themselves and usually frogs will hunt in areas where there is sufficient ground cover to allow them to retreat in the event of a would-be predator. Many of the insects that frogs feed upon occur in terrestrial ecosystems, such as grasslands, wetland margins or in woodland. Land clearing has resulted in the loss of many foraging areas. In addition, the widespread use of pesticides and other agricultural chemicals means that Figure 2.7.1. Litoria chloris, the Red-eyed Tree frog, a species that often breeds in ephemeral puddles. many of the prey items consumed by frogs contain a cocktail of sub-lethal chemicals that may result in incapacitation or death to the frog. Most frogs try to avoid breeding in sites where fish are present and where the water is contaminated In urban areas, ground cover is often sparse and (Figure 2.7.1). high levels of night lighting increases the risk of predation of frogs. Refuge Areas Availability of Breeding Habitat All animals have to withstand extreme environmental conditions from time to time in Breeding sites are species-specific: some frogs breed order to survive. For frogs, the hardest times are in still water, others in flowing water; some breed during extreme dry periods or during extreme cold in warm water, others in cooler water; some breed periods. In addition, frog needs refuge sites to be in shaded sites, others need full sun; some breed in able to escape predators. ephemeral sites, others in permanent water sites, and some Australian frogs do not breed in open During times of favourable weather conditions, water but will breed in damp soil sites. frogs will forage for food, seek a mate or disperse. Each of these activities has an associated risk, The type of breeding sites required is related to the particularly from predators. Frogs try to reduce food requirements of the larvae, the need to avoid predation risk by being most active at night when predation of the eggs and larvae and the nature predators are less abundant, by exploiting cryptic of the surrounding environment. Frogs will try to body colours and patterns and body postures, maximise the chances of survival of their young by and by avoiding areas where they cannot retreat spawning in sites where there is a high chance of quickly to escape predatory attacks. Diurnal and developmental success. If secure breeding sites do nocturnal refuge areas are usually associated with not exist, the species will dwindle in number as the areas of thick ground cover vegetation where frogs adult population ages and no new young adults can quickly retreat into and escape. Frogs will also emerge to replace them Chapter 2.7 — Frogs and wetlands • 164 utilise other ground cover items such as logs crowded sites, cannibalism rates are high and often and rocks and fallen branches, but may similarly juvenile frogs are consumed by their own species or utilise artificial shelter sites such as sheets of by other frog species. timber, metal, discarded household items such Small-scale frog movements usually occur after as old electrical appliances, dumped cars and rainfall or when insects are active. Frogs move building waste. around in search of food but also to try to find During periods of extreme weather conditions new freshwater sites to colonise. Frogs normally (i.e. extremely cold or extremely dry) frogs seek avoid areas lacking refuge sites because of the more substantial shelter environments (referred risk of predation thus they tend to move in areas to as “over-winter habitat”). Over-winter habitat where there is ample ground cover such as along comprises a cool, thermally stable site where a vegetated water course, damp cliff line or mossy ground moisture or humidity is similarly low but rock ledge. stable. The site must also be free from physical disturbance.