Seminar 11: FrogID: The Power of Community Engagement in Frog Conservation

Speaker: Jodi Rowley

Abstract: Frogs are one of the most threatened groups of animals on the planet, yet our current understanding of global frog species diversity, distributions and population trends remains poor. Professional biologists are working hard to gather the information needed to conserve frogs but cannot do it alone. In 2017, the Australian Museum launched FrogID, a national citizen science project based upon a smartphone app used to record calling frogs. In less than seven years, FrogID has revolutionised both our understanding of Australian frogs and public engagement in frog conservation. Tens of thousands of people have now participated in the project, gathering 1.3 million records of Australian frogs. The dataset is growing rapidly, with a peak of over 6,200 frog records in a single day. These occurrence records and audio recordings have helped uncover the true diversity and distributions of Australia’s frogs, along with the impact of threats such as fires, drought, climate change and habitat modification. People across Australia have clearly demonstrated the power of community engagement in frog conservation.

Brief Bio: Jodi Rowley is a conservation biologist with a focus on amphibian diversity, ecology and conservation. Based at the Australian Museum and the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, her research seeks to uncover and document biodiversity and inform conservation decisions. Jodi has conducted expeditions in search of amphibians in Australia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and co-discovered more than 40 frog species new to science, including the vampire flying frog. Her most recent work includes discovering and scientifically describing species of frogs from Australia, searching for frog species that are feared extinct, and investigating the cause and impact of a widespread mass mortality event in Australian frogs. Jodi is the lead scientist of FrogID, a national citizen science project developed by the Australian Museum that has collected over one million records of frogs across Australia since 2017. Jodi has co-authored over 150 scientific publications and was named one of “100 Inspiring Australians” by Qantas.