Maintaining and restoring frog diversity in Canberra’s urban wetlands

This research project will involve a one-year pilot study in four ACT wetlands as a first step before rolling the project out to 25 wetlands across the ACT using recently acquired ARC DP funding.

The pilot study has three aims:
1. To set up pilot experimental wetlands with disease refugia (brick ‘froghouse’ structures and salted satellite ponds) to assess the degree to which native frogs: a) make use of the refugia and b) whether these refugia can lower chytrid prevalence and disease in frogs.
2. To engage local community groups in practical frog conservation through disease mitigation, and to assess whether and how a broader program of disease mitigation via retrofitting additional wetlands with refugia, including possible future reintroductions of locally extirpated species, could succeed with community support.
3. To provide the blueprint for how to successfully establish the wetlands that can mitigate the impacts of the deadly chytrid disease, ready for rollout across 25 experimental wetlands in the ACT. In parallel, we will be preparing to set up, breed and release green and golden bell frogs back into the ACT.