Biodiversity loss has been a growing concern for scientists and conservationists for years with gaps in knowledge being a major problem in determining the health status of many species.
A recent article in “The Conversation” highlighted the importance of citizen scientists in mapping biodiversity and improving knowledge of its status across the landscape.
Australian Museum researchers Grace Gillard and Jodi Rowley discussed the role of citizen scientists in recording frogs using the FrogID (www.frogid.net.au) smartphone app.
Globally frogs are one of the most threatened groups of animals. In Australia one in five species of frogs – almost 50 species – are threatened with extinction. At least four species, including the unique gastric-breeding frogs, are now extinct and several other species, not seen for decades, are also feared extinct. The greatest threats to frogs are disease, habitat loss and climate change.
Gillard and Rowley analysed the 496,357 frog records logged on FrogID in NSW between 2017 and 2024.
As private land makes up the majority of the state and covers almost all habitat types, understanding of how frogs are faring on private land is vital to understanding the species’ health across the landscape. Citizen scientists have been providing important data from private land as well as surveying public land (including national parks and other protected areas) more comprehensively than have professional scientists.
“Most of the NSW FrogID records come from urban and suburban areas with high human population density. But the data showed an increasing number of landholders in regional and remote areas are using FrogID to record their local frogs.”
The researchers pointed out that obtaining data about frogs from these non-urban areas using traditional surveys was challenging for scientists because many frog species in arid and semi-arid areas only become active after heavy rains when these areas are often inaccessible.
There are 240 surviving frog species in Australia.
Citizen scientists using FrogID are providing data to assist researchers in monitoring these frogs’ distribution and health on both private and public land – a major contribution to their survival.
- Leonie Blain
Published in the Voices for the Earth column in The Clarence Valley Independent , 30 January, 2026.
