Growing up in rural Louisiana, whenever we heard a noise at night that didn’t quite sound like anything else—we dubbed it a frog. The clicks, chirps, peeps, and snores of Louisiana’s frog population form a strange and entrancing chorus all its own, but scientists have long feared that the orchestra may be diminishing in volume.
In 1996, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries responded to global concerns about the decline in amphibian species by forming the Louisiana Amphibian Monitoring Program—a mostly volunteer initiative aimed at collecting data on Louisiana’s frogs, toads, and salamanders.
Since 2005, Nicholls State University in Thibodaux has taken part in the program, giving students of biology and herpetology the opportunity to volunteer as data-collectors, and to learn more about Louisiana’s amphibian populations. This spring, students and faculty conducted surveys in the Choctaw swamp, Montegut, and the Falgout Canal with the assistance of biology professors Dr. Tim Clay and Dr. Gary Lafleur. Immersed in the swamp at night, when amphibians tend to be more active, students recorded the frog calls they heard, identified amphibians they could see, and measured the ones they could catch—all contributing vital information towards determining the current state of Louisiana’s amphibian populations. Species they observed included the Northern Cricket Frog, the Spring Peeper, the Green Tree Frog, the Southern Leopard Frog, the Pig Frog, and the Bullfrog.
To learn more about, or get involved in the Louisiana Amphibian Monitoring Program, visit louisianaherps.com.
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