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Status of Populations of Threatened Stream Frog Species in the Upper Catchment of the Styx River on the New England Tablelands, Near Sites Where Trout Releases Occur

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Status of Populations of Threatened Stream Frog Species in the Upper Catchment of the Styx River on the New England Tablelands, Near Sites Where Trout Releases Occur Status of populations of threatened stream frog species in the upper catchment of the Styx River on the New England Tablelands, near sites where trout releases occur. Year 3: continuation of established transect monitoring for the study of trout impacts in endangered frog demographics. Simon Clulow, John Clulow & Michael Mahony School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle Prepared For Recreational Freshwater Fishing Trust New South Wales Department of Primary Industries October 2009 i Executive Summary The authors of this report were engaged to assess the status of populations of threatened stream frogs in and around the upper catchment of the Styx River on the New England Tablelands in areas where trout releases occur over the spring/summer periods of 2007/2008 and 2008/2009. The brief for this study required an assessment of the impact of introduced trout on these threatened frog populations in streams where trout have been released. The rationale for this study was the implication of trout in the decline of several Australian specialist stream breeding amphibian species in 1999 (Gillespie & Hero, 1999). Initial surveys of the region 2006 involved broad landscape scale surveys of the presence/absence of a number of threatened species that were known to be present in the New England Tablelands historically. In 2007 and 2008, the studies were focussed on a smaller number of permanent transects that were established at 11 sites in the Styx River area to investigate more intensely potential impacts of trout on two endangered frogs: the Glandular Frog, Litoria subglandulosa and the Stuttering Frog, Mixophyes balbus. Two years of demographic data from surveys in October to December 2007 and 2008 were used to assess effects of trout on population densities and demographics, and the condition of adult frogs of these species as a measure of environmental stress. Electro-fishing by DPI staff confirmed both rainbow and brown trout to be present in a proportion (but not all) of the trout release streams, but failed to locate any in the trout non- release sites. Based on the demographic data from the surveys of 2007 and 2008 (and the presence/absence data of the original survey in 2006), no deleterious effects of the presence of trout were demonstrated on any of the parameters used as potential measures of impact. Indeed, based on the demographic survey for 2008, it was found that densities of the Glandular Frog were higher in the faster flowing streams where trout release occurred than in non-release streams. Nevertheless, it is recognised that the power of the analysis of the demographic surveys which to date have collected only two years of data is still limited, since they were based on surveys during just two seasons for the frogs involved. Consequently it is recommended that study sites continue to be surveyed during further years. The study also identified various habitat characteristics of the streams and riparian zones that may help identify stream systems where these species are present, and stream systems that may offer favourable habitat to be managed in the long term for the conservation of these species. ii Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................1 1.1. Scope ........................................................................................................1 1.2. Local Context...........................................................................................2 1.3. Background to the Problem and Proposed Study.............................3 1.3.1. The Recent Decline of Amphibians in Australia.........................3 1.3.2. The Implication of Introduced Trout in the Decline of Stream Frogs 3 1.3.3. 1.4.3 Addressing the Fisheries Management Strategy..............4 1.4. Project Objectives...................................................................................4 1.5. Target Species Profiles ............................................................................5 1.5.1. Glandular frog (Litoria subglandulosa) .......................................5 1.5.2. Stuttering frog (Mixophyes balbus) ..............................................6 2. Methods ..................................................................................................8 2.1. Establishment of Study Sites ...................................................................8 2.2. Target Amphibian Surveys ...................................................................13 2.3. Electro-fishing Surveys...........................................................................13 2.4. Statistical Analysis of the Data ............................................................14 3. Results ....................................................................................................15 3.1. Frog distributions and a comparison of frog population densities between trout and control transects (analysis of pooled data for 2007 and 2008 surveys). ..............................................................................................15 3.2. Effects of trout on various measures of body condition and environmental stress. ..........................................................................................18 3.3. The relationship between stream and riparian variables and frog distributions along stream transects. ...............................................................20 3.4. Results of electro-fishing surveys..........................................................24 4. Discussion ..............................................................................................26 5. Conclusions ..........................................................................................28 6. References............................................................................................29 List of Figures Figure 1: Regional context showing the location of the study area in the Styx River catchment system on the New England Tablelands.................2 Figure 2: Location of the study sites in relation to the location of the Dutton Trout Hatchery. See Insets 1 and 2 in Figures 3 and 4 respectively. ........10 Figure 3: Location of the trout and control study sites in Inset 1 (Figure 2) ...11 Figure 4: Location of the trout and control study sites in Inset 2 (Figure 2) ...12 iii Figure 5: Distributions of L. subglandulosa and M. balbus along four transects in the Styx River study area. Each panel shows a separate transect using pooled data from the October and December 2007 surveys. The x-axis represents the distance along the transect from 0-100m, and the y-axis represents the distance frogs were located from the stream edge. Most frogs were located by calls close to the water’s edge in both trout and control sites. Both frog species may occur together. ...18 Figure 6: M. balbus counts along transects against average riffle length in transects; P <0.001, R = 0.848........................................................................21 Figure 7: M. balbus counts along transects against pool depth; P <0.05, R = 0.603 ..................................................................................................................22 Figure 8: Proportion of exposed substrate consisting of mud against mean riffle length; P <0.005, R = 0.781 .....................................................................22 Figure 9: M. balbus counts along transects against abundance of Lomandra and Ghania on the banks; P <0.05, R = -0.622........................23 Figure 10: L. subglandulosa counts along transects proportion of water substrate consisting of sand. .........................................................................23 Figure 11: L. subglandulosa counts along transects proportion of logs and wood on the banks.........................................................................................24 List of Tables Table 1: Records of Mixophyes balbus along trout release and trout free transects during surveys in 2007 and 2008. Right column shows the results of electrofishing along some transects with number and species of trout captured indicated, or absence of trout captures if site fished but no trout captured. There was no significant difference in the density of M. balbus along trout release and trout free sites based on the pooled data for 2007 and 2008 (chi-square = 2.657, df =1, p = 0.1030). M. balbus observed (mean records per transect per survey) in: Trout release sites 2007 = 2.3 , 2008 = 2.3 ; Trout-free (control sites) 2007 = 2.7, 2008 = 3.1. ..............................................................................................16 Table 2: Records of Litoria subglandulosa along trout release and trout free transects during surveys in 2007 and 2008. Right column shows the results of electrofishing along some transects with number and species of trout captured indicated, or absence of trout captures if site fished but no trout captured. Significantly more Litoria subglandulosa were recorded on trout release catchment transects (comparisons of recorded individuals per 100 metre transect) than along trout free transects (chi-square = 72.20, df =1, p < 0.0001). Litoria sublgandulosa iv observed (mean records per transect per survey) in: Trout release sites 2007 = 1.9, 2008 = 4.9; Trout-free (control sites) 2007 =1.9, 2008 = 1.7 ....17 Table 3: Comparative morphometrics of adult male M. balbus from trout release and control streams during October and December 2007 and 2008 surveys. # Body
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