Early March contains the first harbingers of the shifting seasons. The temperature starts to fitfully rise, the sun stays out for longer – noticeably, as we spring forward the clocks – and after dusk comes the unmistakable chiming chorus of spring: the peeps of Spring Peeper frogs.
Spring Peepers are the first frogs to make their presence known. Waking from winter hibernation and literally thawing out from the freezing overnight winter temperature, the peepers begin to sing to find mates. As spring progresses, other amphibians strike up their own choruses, ribbiting, croaking, quacking, peeping, and singing, all clamoring to find their own mates.
To become attuned to these froggy songs and to participate in a nation-wide citizen science program, the Roger Williams Park Zoo offers Rhode Island residents FrogWatch USA trainings. The FrogWatch program, established in 1998, seeks to educate individuals about the importance of wetlands, amphibians, and the monitoring of local frog and toad species. With their highly permeable skin and their dual-natured roles of both predator and prey, amphibian species are a good indicator of the health of different habitats and environments.
But frog and toad species are disappearing at staggering rates across the globe. Faced with pollution (like runoff), habitat loss, and disease, over one third of amphibian species assessed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (producers of The Red List) are threatened with extinction.
Through a FrogWatch USA training, participants will learn how to monitor local frog populations to observe and protect different species, find a good observational site, tell local amphibian species apart by their calls, and report findings to FrogWatch USA where the observations will be added to the national database.
The Roger Williams Park Zoo has run a FrogWatch USA training program since 2008, and zoo team has trained over 800 volunteers since. “While many volunteers have only committed for a year or two, several long-term volunteers have been monitoring their sites for over a decade, contributing valuable long-term amphibian breeding data,” says Hannah Petrarca, one of the FrogWatch coordinators at the zoo.
Rhode Island is rich in various types of wetlands, “including ponds, lakes, rivers, bogs, fens, and swamps, with some amphibians preferring specific habitats while others are more generalists,” Petrarca explains, showcasing how finding a FrogWatch-worthy habitat may be easier that it sounds. “One example of a good site is a backyard, which makes monitoring simple and easy to remember.”
Memorizing local frog calls also isn’t as daunting as it sounds. There are ten species of frogs and toads in the state, and FrogWatchers are trained (with a test at the end of the session) to identify the calls. Common species include Wood Frogs and the iconic Spring Peepers, typically heard first in March and April. They are followed by Grey Treefrogs, which breed in late April to May, then the summer breeders like Green Frogs and Bullfrogs. “Identifying the different species “takes a little bit of practice,” Petrarca admits, “but is overall pretty easy with the ten species we have native to our state. Some states, like Florida, have over 30 species to identify!”
Some species, like the Eastern Spadefoot, are rarer and not frequently reported,” she says. That particular species is “Rhode Island’s only endangered amphibian, [and] requires heavy rainstorms to trigger breeding events, such as the one caused by Hurricane Henri in 2021 which led to nearly 1,000 tadpoles.” Last year the zoo received a report of the Eastern Spadefoot breeding call. It came after a major rainstorm and was reported in the species potential range, making it plausible that the report was true despite having an unconfirmed visual sighting from herpetologists. “Now that it’s on our radar, we and our FrogWatch volunteers can keep an ear our for any future calls from [that] area. If confirmed, this would mark the discovery of a new spadefoot population within the state.”
A new population of a rare frog species could be exciting news, if confirmed. “Our local amphibian populations face many of the same threats as those on a larger scale. Habitat loss and fragmentation, increased use of pesticides and chemicals, road mortality, and disease are just a few of the challenges amphibians encounter,” Petrarca lists off. “As indicator species of habitat health, the loss of populations signals that something has changed in the environment, often reflecting broader disruptions in the ecosystem.” If a frog species manages to recover in population size and showcase overall strong health throughout the population, it likewise may be an indicator of certain habitat sectors healing, or at least of some sort of positive environmental change.
Citizen science programs like FrogWatch USA depends on curious individuals. While the training sessions themselves are designed for older children and adults, FrogWatching is an after-dark activity that anyone can do. The Roger Williams Park Zoo offers two different training sessions: an in-person training on March 11th from 5:30-8:30 p.m., and a virtual self-guided training that takes a total of two hours. Parties that register for the virtual training must complete their studies by March 31st to become a FrogWatcher this year.
To maintain certification status through the Roger Williams Park Zoo FrogWatch USA chapter, the zoo teams asks that volunteers actively contribute to the FrogWatch database at least four times per season (March-August). Recertification is possible and encouraged for those who took time off but are still interested in local herpetology.
FrogWatching is not the only way to protect amphibians in the state. Planting native plants to attract native insects, reducing or eliminating pesticides, picking up litter, and leaving fallen leaves in garden beds each autumn can make substantial differences for frogs and toads that overwinter in New England, Petrarca lists off. Participating in citizen science efforts like FrogWatch go the step beyond, and by joining, volunteers can connect with other community members, nature lovers, and contribute to environmental science research. “With Rhode Island being such a small state, we’re lucky to have a community that deeply cares about our natural spaces and the species that live there,” she affirms. “We’re always stronger together.