Southern Corroboree Frog - Conservation Context

CONSERVATION BACKGROUND

Southern Corroboree Frogs are habitat specialists: they only occur at high altitudes (>1000 m above sea level) in the Snowy Mountains region of Kosciuszko National Park, NSW, Australia.  The frogs breed in boggy shallow pools or seepages, females laying their eggs in small nests.  The adult frogs over-winter in adjacent forests and tall heaths, moving back to the bogs in January/February.

Chytridiomycosis is the primary factor causing the decline of the Southern Corroboree Frog.  Chytridiomycosis is a disease caused by infection with the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus, and was probably introduced to Australia in the late 1970s.  Chytridiomycosis damages the outer skin layers of the frog, and appears to particularly affect species that occur at high altitudes in cool and moist environments, such as like the Southern Corroboree Frog.

Climate change is also expected to have a significant impacts on the Southern Corroboree Frog, particularly if droughts become more frequent or there is less rainfall. Southern Corroboree Frogs often breed in ephemeral pools: during droughts these pools can dry up before the tadpoles metamorphose into frogs. Furthermore, if the water table becomes lower, these pools may disappear and/or become overgrown with vegetation. 

CONSERVATION STATUS

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species – Critically Endangered
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Federal) – Endangered
Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (NSW) - Critically Endangered

The Southern Corroboree Frog is threatened by:

  • Chytridiomycosis (fungal disease)
  • Habitat loss due to climate change and bushfires
  • Damage to breeding sites by feral pigs and horses

RECOVERY PROGRAM

The broad objectives for the Southern Corroboree Frog Recovery Program are to:

  • Monitor and assess the ongoing status of populations and locate eggs for the captive rearing and breeding program 
  • Monitor breeding habitats to determine the likely influence of climate change 
  • Run a captive breeding program to prevent the complete extinction of this species and maintain existing genetic variation 
  • Trial re-introductions to determine the most effective technique to maintain this species in the wild 
  • Conduct ongoing research to determine the ecological interactions between the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus and the Southern Corroboree Frog.

Beyond securing this species in captivity, the primary focus of the Recovery Program is to implement a reintroduction program that allows ongoing interactions between Southern Corroboree Frogs and Amphibian Chytrid Fungus in the wild for long enough that a sustainable co-existence between host and pathogen can evolve. 

In the long-term, the overall objective of the national Recovery Program is to down-list the Southern Corroboree Frog from Endangered to Vulnerable.

CONSERVATION PARTNERS

The Recovery Program is led by the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water NSW and includes representatives from: