Australian Green, Golden Bell, Southern Bell Frog Populations In Rapid Decline

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Common scientific wisdom suggests that frogs are a key indicator of environmental health. If that is the case, another alarm bell should be ringing with the disappearance of the green and golden bell frog between Grafton and Byron Bay. Southern Cross University frog researcher Dr Ross Goldingay has just edited a special edition of the journal Australian Zoologist. It focuses on both the green and golden bell frog and also the southern bell frog, which like frogs all over the world, are disappearing at a rate never seen before.

The decline of the green and golden bell frog first came to the attention of biologists in the early 1990s. Historically, the species was abundant at many locations around Sydney and coastal NSW but it disappeared from many of these areas in less than two decades. In Sydney, the frogs used to be so common that they were regularly collected for university dissection and as food for pet snakes, Dr Goldingay said. He attributes the frog decline of around 25 per cent in the past 12 years to a multitude of factors including habitat loss and degradation, as well as introduced fish and a frog fungus.

“A key threat is the mosquito fish, which was introduced to reduce the number of mosquito lava in water bodies. There is some debate as to their effectiveness in that, but they are veracious feeders. They feed on all sorts of living things in the water including tadpoles. Where you get them (mosquito fish) you generally don’t get bell frogs,” he said. “Another factor recently identified is a thing called amphibian fungus which has impacted on a number of Australian frogs and frogs from overseas. The current thinking is that it was inadvertently introduced from South Africa in the 1970s.”

Despite the extensive research done into the green and golden bell frog, Dr Goldingay is pessimistic about its future. “Success in conserving them will only be achieved through the ongoing dedication of researchers and volunteers, and with a considerable amount of commitment from government agencies, private industry and landholders, perhaps beyond what we have seen to date,” he said.

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