The Green and Golden Bell Frog Litoria aurea is the subject of a number of population monitoring studies to assess its long-term status. However, we question the value of standard monitoring strategies for this species. The numbers of frogs detected at a single pond can be highly variable over time, creating significant variance in population estimates and so serious difficulties in statistically detecting population changes. The species is also believed to exhibit a metapopulation structure with natural levels of site extinctions balanced by site colonisations. Traditional monitoring would view site declines as serious impacts on the population, but they are insignificant if balanced by the colonisations. We believe that population estimates using site occupancy modelling may be a better method of monitoring Green and Golden Bell Frog populations. We explore this option, comparing it to traditional approaches, and consider that monitoring site occupancy should be time-effective and statistically more sensitive in detecting annual trends in populations. We recommend testing this approach further with a suitable data set to better determine whether Site Occupancy Modelling is a more sensitive means of monitoring Green and Golden Bell Frog populations.
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October 14 2011
Monitoring the Green and Golden Bell Frog: current problems and an alternative approach Open Access
Trent Penman;
Trent Penman
1
Department of Primary Industries, Forest Science Centre, PO Box 100, Beecroft, NSW. 2119. Australia
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Frank Lemckert
Frank Lemckert
1
Department of Primary Industries, Forest Science Centre, PO Box 100, Beecroft, NSW. 2119. Australia
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Australian Zoologist (2008) 34 (3): 373–378.
Citation
Trent Penman, Frank Lemckert; Monitoring the Green and Golden Bell Frog: current problems and an alternative approach. Australian Zoologist 1 October 2008; 34 (3): 373–378. doi: https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2008.014
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