Latest News

Threat Thursday, focusing on frogs!

When the Atlas and Red Data Book of the Frogs of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland was published in 2004, there were 115 species of frogs in the region. In the four decades since 1964, this figure had increased by 40 species, and is still increasing.

In the Atlas and Red Data Book 25 of the 115 frog species were placed in threat categories: four were classified as Critically Endangered (Hewitt's Ghost Frog, Table Mountain Ghost Frog, Mistbelt Moss Frog and Micro Frog), eight as Endangered, eight as Vulnerable, and five as Near-threatened. A further eight species were Data Deficient, implying that the knowledge about these species, and especially their distributions, were inadequate to make a decision on the appropriate category. The balance of 83 were classified as Least Concern. One of the Near-threatened species was the Giant Bullfrog, the species in the picture. This is record 361 in the FrogMAP virtual museum. The photo was taken by Christopher Dyke in Gauteng.

The Atlas and Red Data Book discussed threats to frogs: Habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and degradation; Dams, overgrazing and siltation; Afforestation and alien invasive plants; Pollution; Fire; Road mortalities; Chytridiomycosis, a disease caused by a single-celled fungus, associated with amphibian declines in many parts of the world; Climate change.

Coverage in the 2004 Atlas and Red Data Book was reasonable, and 88% of the 2005 quarter degree grid cells had some data, the book acknowledges that "much of the western part of the atlas region was not well covered" and that "distribution maps for many species are incomplete." Help complete these distribution, and help to create distribution maps which are based on 21st century records by submitting photographs and recordings of calls to FrogMAP, one of the Virtual Museums of the ADU.