<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/09/unique-frogs-in-nsw-rainforests-feared-locally-extinct-after-black-summer-bushfires>
"Several frog species are feared to be locally extinct in parts of New South
Wales after the black summer bushfires, a survey of amphibian populations has
found.
Scientists conducted a survey of 411 sites in north-east and south-east NSW,
monitoring 35 frog species for 18 months after the 2019-2020 bushfire season.
Focusing on nine threatened species, the researchers found that those in
rainforest habitats were most significantly affected by the fires –
specifically the pouched frog, the giant burrowing frog and Pugh’s mountain
frog.
The study’s first author, Dr Chad Beranek of the University of Newcastle, said
the Pugh’s mountain frog, a unique species with a call that “sounds like a bit
of a fart”, was the worst affected.
“This is a frog species that not many people would have encountered because
they occur in rainforest bog habitat in the northern areas of the Great
Dividing Range,” Beranek said.
“They’ve been … evolving ever since Australia was connected to Antarctica when
the whole of Australia used to be a cool temperate rainforest. They don’t have
any evolutionary history with fire.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
