Research

Transforming Landscapes

Froglife is currently running several evidence based conservation reptile and amphibian research projects.

Toads on Roads

Froglife has managed the national Toads on Roads project for many years and in 2016 published research findings indicating a 68% decline in populations of the common toad across the UK over the past 30 years. The press release for the publication “Goodbye Mr Toad?”. The full research paper can be found here. This important research has enabled Froglife to take further positive action to help conserve this species. We immediately launched the Year of the Toad campaign as a result of the findings to raise awareness of the issue. Alongside this campaign we developed two large scale Tails of Amphibian Discovery (T.O.A.D) projects, in London and Yorkshire.

For the fifth anniversary of this research we are working with the original authors to analyse the Toads on Roads data for the subsequent 5 years to see what has happened to the population trends.

We also worked with the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology on their project to model the best locations and size of woodlands for different species. We supported the development of the model for Common Toads which used data collected from Toad Patrol Managers to inform the model. The final publication of this work can be found here.

Effectiveness of under-road mitigation tunnels for amphibians and reptiles

Froglife have developed an automated monitoring system for monitoring amphibian and reptile movement through under-road wildlife tunnels. We are currently undertaking monitoring of three sites in England, one in Scotland and one in France, totalling 26 tunnels. This research has expanded in recent years and we have currently just started monitoring six tunnels in Scotland. This five-year research project will determine whether great crested newts, as well as other amphibian species, use these large mitigation tunnels. In addition, we have projects in development for Portugal and Slovenia. Our research is revealing important aspects of amphibian and reptile ecology which will be useful for understanding the effectiveness of road mitigation measures and how to improve habitat connectivity for UK and European species. A publication by Froglife and collaborators can be found here.

Amphibian diseases in the UK

Froglife has been involved in citizen science projects and research relating to amphibian diseases since the 1980s. This area of work has grown as the conservation community has become increasingly concerned about the threats faced, particularly by frogs, due to disease. Our work has included involvement in research into ranaviruses including several projects with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the University of Exeter. We work with members of the public finding dead or diseased frogs in their gardens, offering advice and linking them in to wider research into disease. We are partners in the Garden Wildlife Health project with the ZSL, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

International work

Froglife are also developing collaborations with the international Amphibian Survival Alliance (ASA) and Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG). It is hoped this will lead to research and conservation projects with international partners.

Ecological and evolutionary resilience of iconic amphibian species to environmental change.

Understanding the ecological and evolutionary resilience of species to the challenges associated with long-term environmental change is a cornerstone of effective conservation and management strategies. Environmental stressors such as the salinisation of freshwater environments, as a result of climate change induced sea water inundation or from road de-icers, can have a catastrophic effect on amphibian populations. Salt resilience in amphibians has only been reported in a few species, with very few of these studies investigating the genetic mechanisms behind amphibian salt resilience, the adaptability of amphibian populations to saline or brackish environments is largely unknown. With reports of UK amphibian species such as the common toad, Bufo bufo, and palmate newt, Lissotriton helveticus, larvae being observed in coastal environments, the capacity of UK amphibian species to tolerate salt inundation is believed to be widely underreported.

Froglife is co-supervising a CASE studentship project sponsored by MASTS SUPER-DTP alongside The University of the West of Scotland (UWS). The PhD aims to:

Identify the distribution of UK amphibians and which species are typically being found in saline environments through eDNA barcoding analyses. Samples of pond water from coastal sites provided by citizen science volunteers will be analysed using species specific primers, devised through the PhD, capable of identifying all UK amphibian species alongside the invasive alpine newt, Ichthyosaura alpestris.
Utilise RADseq genotyping to elucidate the demographic history of populations and identify signatures of selection in the amphibian species identified in saline environments raised under differing salinities.
Use RNAseq to identify genes differentially regulated under hyper saline conditions and identify genotypic differences within the genes in saline versus non-saline populations
Analyse through laboratory exposure experiments the physiological effects of salinity on individuals raised from eggs and larvae in hypersaline environments.

For information on our conservation projects, click here.

Transforming Lives

Froglife also works to increase the evidence base for conservation focused public engagement activities.

An evaluation of the impact of the work of The Froglife Trust on the lives of disadvantaged young people

Froglife were awarded funding from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation to work with the Open University on evaluating our Peterborough & Fenland Green Pathways Scheme. The research set up a control group and a group of young people that took part in the scheme and over a three month period, evaluated the impact on those taking part compared to the control group. The Open University team is in the process of publishing an open access paper and will fund an ‘easy to read’ version. They also set-up an evaluation database and trained Froglife staff in how to analyse the data.

For information on our education projects, click here.

Published research

Ball, S., Petrovan, S., Ashe-Jepson, E., Dobson, C., Lawson, B., Morrison, L., & Garner. G., (2024) Genetic study of an isolated population of adders Vipera berus founded by historic translocation: implications for conservation. The Herpetological Journal 34, 4, pp. 197-210
Gardner, E., Robinson, R.A., Julian, A. et al. (2024) A family of process-based models to simulate landscape use by multiple taxa. Landsc Ecol 39, 102.
Johanson W, Tse-Leon J, (2023) Common wall lizards Podarcis muralis at a new site in England registered by a citizen science reporting tool The Herpetological Bulletin 163, 2023: 39–40 NATURAL HISTORY NOTE
Petrovan SO, Al-Fulaij N, Christie A, Andrews H (2022) Why link diverse citizen science surveys? Widespread arboreal habits of a terrestrial amphibian revealed by mammalian tree surveys in Britain. PLoS ONE 17(7): e0265156.
Tinsley-Marshall, P. Downey, H., Adum, G. Al-Fulai, N., Bourn, N. A. D., Brotherton, P N. M., Frick, W. F., Hancock, M. H., Hellon, J., Hudson, M. A., Kortland, K., Mastro, K., McNicol, C. M., McPherson, T., Mickleburgh, S., Moss, J. F., Nichols, C. P., O’Brien, D., Ockendon, N., Paterson, S., Payne, C. J., Parks, D., Schofield, H., Watuwa, J., Wormald, K., Wilkinson, J., Wilson, J. D., Pimm, S. L., & Sutherland, W. J. (2022) Funding and delivering the routine testing of management interventions to improve conservation effectiveness. Journal for Nature Conservation. Vol: 67, 126184
Jarvis, L.E., Grant, R.A. & SenGupta, A. (2021) Lunar phase as a cue for migrations to two species of explosive breeding amphibians—implications for conservation. Eur J Wildl Res 67, 11
Petrovan, S.O., Vale, C.G. & Sillero, N. (2020) Using citizen science in road surveys for large-scale amphibian monitoring: are biased data representative for species distribution?. Biodivers Conserv 29, 1767–1781)
Jarvis, L.E., Hartup, M. & Petrovan, S.P. (2019) Road mitigation using tunnels and fences promotes site connectivity and population expansion for a protected amphibian. European Journal of Wildlife Research 65:27
Cátia Matos, Silviu O. Petrovan, Philip M. Wheeler, Alastair I. Ward. (2019) Landscape connectivity and spatial prioritization in an urbanising world: A network analysis approach for a threatened amphibian. Biological Conservation Vol 237, Pgs 238-247
Petrovan, S.O., and B.R. Schmidt. (2016). Volunteer conservation action data reveals large-scale and long-term negative population trends of a widespread amphibian, the Common toad (Bufo bufo). PLoS One 11:e0161943.