With the recent rains across the Western Plains came the inevitable croaking of frogs as breeding season approaches. It creates ideal conditions to participate in FrogID Week, a citizen-science approach to monitoring frog species across the country.  

FrogID Week runs from November 12-21, encouraging locals to get outside and using their phone, recording as many frog sounds as they can to help identify local species.  

After recent years have brought various extreme weather events to Australia, scientists are concerned that frog populations are both collateral damage and the proverbial 'canaries in the coal mine', unable to adapt to the fast-changing weather patterns.  

Lead Scientist for FrogID Jodi Rowley says that properly identifying long-term changes could take up to ten years but in the event's four-year history trends have already emerged.  

“Our frogs are suffering – they are sensitive to environmental change and this year they are dying in large numbers,” Dr Rowley said.  

This year’s challenge is directing a focus to Green Tree Frogs - which are common across the Western Plains – whose populations suffered huge losses over the winter.  

However FrogID Week isn’t just about finding what has been lost. 

Last year’s recordings revealed the distinctive ‘chirrup’ call of the Tusked Frog, heard West of Tenterfield. The recording was the rediscovering of a species that has seen a 40-year absence. For now, the site of the recording remains the only known location of the endangered species, though scientists are hoping that this year may see more identified.  

The discovery is the perfect example of how these simple recordings become a measurement of frog health and distributions over time, with every frog making a unique sound.  

“We are missing even basic information on frogs – there are areas in Australia that have no scientific records of frogs, even though they are there. We need everyone recording calls in their backyards, in bushland, in paddocks, around dams, in remote outback areas, in rainforests, on mountain slopes and on farmland,” Dr Rowley said.  

Mortality events across the country have proven the dire effects that changing climates and extreme weather events have on frogs.  

As concern grows for the alarming rate towards the extinction of frogs, with some Australian species likely already lost, the potential impacts far outweigh the idea of an uninterrupted sleep on a rainy night. 

A crucial part of the ecosystem, without sufficient frog populations insect numbers will significantly rise and thrive with the removal of a major link in the food chain.  

The issue isn’t just local to Australia, but a challenge met by scientists around the world who fear that we may be on the brink of a worldwide mass extinction. 

“The catastrophic events we’ve seen in past few years will probably be part of our environmental future, so we need information on how frogs deal with these events in order to help protect them,” Dr Rowley said.  

One of the effects of uncharacteristic weather events is frog species starting to breed earlier in the year. As an effect, tadpoles are hatching too soon into their environments and are unable to survive in that context.  

Earlier in the year, a breakthrough from Australian scientists at the Threatened Species Recovery Hub saw the breeding of frogs from wetter regions with those from drier regions, hoping to build their adaptability to different climates.  

Still, remaining frog species cannot be written off to climate events, but rather identified and then protected.  

“We need an army of citizens to get on board this November and help us to help our frogs,” Dr Rowley said.  

Last year, the sounds recorded grew by seven thousand from the year prior, identifying over twenty thousand frogs and 105 different species.  

To participate in the FrogID Week counting event, download the FrogID app to start recording frog sounds in your area.