Managing Frog Habitat

Conservation

Frog Declines

Threatening Processes

Habitat Loss

Introduced Species

Cane Toads

Pollution

Climate change

Diseases

Ultraviolet Radiation

Saving Frogs - What You Can Do...

Managing Frog Habitat

Creating Frog Habitat

Keeping Frogs and Tadpoles

Frog Surveys

Frog Spotting

Saving Frogs - Communities Getting Involved

Saving Frogs - National Level Action

Recovery Plans

Healthy Frog Habitat
© Craig Cleeland

Many frog habitats are under threat from human activities. In order to keep ecosystems healthy we need to manage and monitor them appropriately.

Threats

Threats to frog habitats include altered water patterns, loss of vegetation, grazing by livestock, pollution and invasive plant and animal species.

How can we manage frog habitats?

• Allowing wetlands to dry-out and re-flood naturally. These cycles are an essential part of these ecosystems.
• Not clearing any native vegetation. Vegetation provides shelter, shade and essential food for frogs and other aquatic fauna. It also filters surface runoff, limits light levels, and maintains slope and bank stability.
• Maintaining woody debris, including snags, which are a natural and important part of river systems. Snags are essential for creating a range of flow conditions enabling a diversity of plants and animals to establish. They provide shade and shelter and their gradual decay and trapping of leaf litter provides the food for many aquatic animals (e.g. frogs, crayfish and insects).
• Stopping access of livestock to sensitive areas. Grazing can result in river bank erosion, loss of plant species, soil compaction, weed invasion, and a build up of bacteria and viruses in the water.
• Preventing rubbish, oils and chemicals such as detergents, insecticides, pesticides and fertilisers entering waterways and habitats. (See 'Frogs in an Effluent Society' 2.12MB PDF)
• Removing weeds and limiting the access of dogs, cats and foxes.

Case Study - Frog habitat management

Some localised habitats with threatened frog species have their own management plans. An example of this is Sydney Olympic Park where a population of the endangered Green and Golden Bell Frog (Litoria aurea) is found.

For more information on the management of this species at Homebush visit the Sydney Olympic Park Website

Related Document

• Frogs in an Effluent Society
  Hints on preventing rubbish, oils and chemicals such as detergents, insecticides, pesticides and fertilisers entering waterways and habitats. (2.13MB pdf file)