Register      Login
Wildlife Research Wildlife Research Society
Ecology, management and conservation in natural and modified habitats
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Movement patterns and habitat use of rainforest stream frogs in northern Queensland, Australia: implications for extinction vulnerability

Jodi J. L. Rowley A B and Ross A. Alford A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Present address: Conservation International Indo-Burma, PO Box 1356, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Email: Jodi.Rowley@gmail.com

Wildlife Research 34(5) 371-378 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR07014
Submitted: 7 February 2007  Accepted: 13 July 2007   Published: 6 September 2007

Abstract

Amphibians are one of the most highly threatened groups of animals, but their effective conservation is hampered by a paucity of basic ecological knowledge, particularly for tropical stream-breeding species, in which declines have been most common and severe. We examined the movement patterns and habitat use of three stream-breeding frog species at five sites in northern Queensland, Australia. Movement and habitat use differed significantly among species. Litoria lesueuri moved more frequently and greater distances than did our other study species, and was often located away from streams, moving between intact rainforest and highly disturbed environments. Litoria genimaculata moved less frequently and shorter distances and was more restricted to stream environments compared with L. lesueuri, but was often located in the canopy. L. genimaculata occasionally moved large distances along and between streams, but was never located outside of intact rainforest. Litoria nannotis moved almost as frequently as the other species, but remained in streams during the day, did not move large distances along or between streams, and was always located within intact rainforest. Because of its sedentary behaviour, narrow habitat tolerance and affinity for stream environments, L. nannotis may be more vulnerable to extinction in human-modified landscapes compared with L. lesueuri and L. genimaculata.


Acknowledgements

This research was supported by funding from the Australian Geographic Society, the Society for the Study of Amphibian and Reptiles, the Peter Rankin Trust Fund for Herpetology, the Australian Government Department of Environment and Heritage, and from US National Science Foundation Integrated Research Challenges in Environmental Biology grant DEB-0213851, and was carried out under Scientific Purposes Permits issued by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (WISP01715204 and WITK01715604) as approved by the James Cook University Animal Care and Ethics Committee (A863). JJLR was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Research Scholarship. Thanks to the many volunteers who assisted in the field and to J. D. Roberts, R. Puschendorf, L. Schwarzkopf, B. Windmiller and two anonymous reviewers for many helpful comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript.


References

Altizer, S. M. , Oberhauser, K. S. , and Brower, L. P. (2000). Associations between host migration and the prevalence of a protozoan parasite in natural populations of adult monarch butterflies. Ecological Entomology 25, 125–139.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Cade B. S., and Richards J. D. (2005). ‘User Manual for Blossom Statistical Software.’ (US Geological Survey: Reston, VA.)

Dole, J. W. (1965). Summer movements of adult leopard frogs, Rana pipiens Schreber, in northern Michigan. Ecology 46, 236–255.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Duellman W. E., and Trueb L. (1986). ‘Biology of Amphibians.’ (The John Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, MD.)

Ezenwa, V. (2004). Host social behavior and parasitic infection: a multifactorial approach. Behavioral Ecology 15, 446–454.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | Hodgkison S., and Hero J.-M. (2002). Seasonal behaviour of Litoria nannotis, Litoria rheocola and Nyctimystes dayi in Tully Gorge, North Queensland, Australia. In ‘Frogs in the Community. Proceedings of the Brisbane Symposium 13–14 February 1999’. (Ed. A. E. O. Nattrass.) pp. 29–39. (Queensland Frog Society: Brisbane.)

IUCN Conservation International, and NatureServe. (2006). ‘Global Amphibian Assessment.’ (Washington DC.) Available from http://www.globalamphibians.org [accessed November 2006].

Jameson, D. L. (1955). The population dynamics of the cliff frog, Syrrhophus marnocki. American Midland Naturalist 54, 342–381.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | McDonald K. R. (2002). Frog futures: conservation issues and prospects for Queensland. In ‘Frogs in the Community. Proceedings of the Brisbane Symposium, 13–14 February 1999’. (Ed. A. E. O. Nattrass.) pp. 6–22. (Queensland Frog Society: Brisbane.)

McDonald K., and Alford R. (1999). review of declining frogs in northern Queensland. In ‘Declines and Disappearances of Australian Frogs’. (Ed. A. Campbell.) pp. 14–22. (Environment Australia: Canberra.)

McDonald, K. R. , Méndez, D. , Müller, R. , Freeman, A. B. , and Speare, R. (2005). Decline in the prevalence of chytridiomycosis in frog populations in north Queensland, Australia. Pacific Conservation Biology 11, 114–120.
Richards S. J., Sinsch U., and Alford R. A. (1994). Radio tracking. In ‘Measuring and Monitoring Biological Diversity: Standard Methods for Amphibians’. (Eds W. R. Heyer, M. A. Donnelly, R. W. McDiarmid, L. C. Hayek and M. S. Foster.) pp. 155–157. (Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington, DC.)

Rowley, J. J. L. , and Alford, R. A. (2007). Techniques for tracking amphibians: the effects of tag attachment, and harmonic direction finding versus radio telemetry. Amphibia–Reptilia 28, 367–376.


Schroeder, E. E. (1976). Dispersal and movement of newly transformed green frogs, Rana clamitans. American Midland Naturalist 95, 471–474.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Schwarzkopf, L. , and Alford, R. A. (1996). Desiccation and shelter-site use in a tropical amphibian: comparing toads with physical models. Functional Ecology 10, 193–200.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Schwarzkopf, L. , and Alford, R. A. (2002). Nomadic movement in tropical toads. Oikos 96, 492–506.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Seebacher, F. , and Alford, R. A. (2002). Shelter microhabitats determine body temperature and dehydration rates of a terrestrial amphibian (Bufo marinus). Journal of Herpetology 36, 69–75.


Smith, M. A. , and Green, D. M. (2006). Sex, isolation and fidelity: unbiased long-distance dispersal in a terrestrial amphibian. Ecography 29, 649–658.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Stuart, S. N. , Chanson, J. S. , Cox, N. A. , Young, B. E. , Rodrigues, A. S. L. , Fischman, D. L. , and Waller, R. W. (2004). Status and trends of amphibian declines and extinctions worldwide. Science 306, 1783–1786.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |

Travis, J. M. J. , and Dytham, C. (1999). Habitat persistence, habitat availability and the evolution of dispersal. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences 266, 723–728.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Vasconcelos, D. , and Calhoun, A. J. K. (2004). Movement patterns of adult and juvenile Rana sylvatica (LeConte) and Ambystoma maculatum (Shaw) in three restored seasonal pools in Maine. Journal of Herpetology 38, 551–561.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Williams, S. E. , and Hero, J.-M. (1998). Rainforest frogs of the Australian wet tropics: guild classification and the ecological similarity of declining species. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences 265, 597–602.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Williams, S. E. , and Hero, J.-M. (2001). Multiple determinants of Australian tropical frog diversity. Biological Conservation 98, 1–10.
Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |