Population Recovery following Decline in an Endangered Stream-Breeding Frog

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 8; no. 3; p. e58559
• Main Authors: Newell, David Alan, Goldingay, Ross Lindsay, Brooks, Lyndon Owen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science 13.03.2013
• Subjects: Amphibians; Analysis; Behavior; Rain forests; Statistics
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058559
• ISSN: 1932-6203

Amphibians have undergone dramatic declines and extinctions worldwide. Prominent among these have been the stream-breeding frogs in the rainforests of eastern Australia. The amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) has been postulated as the primary cause of these declines. We conducted a capture-mark-recapture study over a 7-year period on the endangered Fleay's barred frog (Mixophyes fleayi) at two independent streams (30 km apart) in order to assess the stability of these populations. This species had undergone a severe decline across its narrow geographic range. Mark-recapture modelling showed that the number of individuals increased 3-10 fold along stream transects over this period. Frog detection probabilities were frequently above 50% but declined as the populations increased. Adult survival was important to overall population persistence in light of low recruitment events, suggesting that longevity may be a key factor in this recovery. One male and female were present in the capture record for >6 years. This study provides an unambiguous example of population recovery in the presence of Bd.