Almost two-thirds of Australia is privately owned. But most of the scientific understanding of how threatened species are faring comes from research done on public lands. Traditional biodiversity surveys by professional scientists are time and resource intensive and navigating access to private lands can be tricky.
This means there’s a huge gap in knowledge amid worsening biodiversity loss. That’s where citizen science comes in. Every year, millions of Australian species records are logged by members of the public using smartphone apps. This flood of data is revolutionising conservation, producing large flows of species data and connecting people to nature.
But does this data better capture species on private land? To find out, a recent research examines almost half a million frog records logged on the Australian Museum’s national FrogID project by citizen scientists in New South Wales. Remarkably, 86 per cent of these records come from private land.
Importantly, these records capture evidence of where threatened species are holding on in privately-held land. The beautiful green and golden bell frog (Litoria aurea) is considered vulnerable at a national level as it’s no longer found on about 90 per cent of its former range. But almost three-quarters of all FrogID recordings of this frog in NSW are on private land.
Recordings with a smartphone
Frogs are one of the most threatened groups of animals on the planet. One in five species of Australian frogs—almost 50 species—are threatened with extinction. Disease, habitat loss and climate change are their greatest threats.
At least four species have already gone extinct—including the unique gastric-brooding frogs—while several others haven’t been seen in decades and are feared extinct. It’s vitally important to track how the surviving 240 plus species are faring.
In the research, experts analysed the 496,357 frog records logged in NSW on FrogID between 2017 and 2024.
Private lands make up the majority of New South Wales, and cover almost every habitat type. It stands to reason that many frog species should be found across private land. The analysis of FrogID data found the diversity of frog species was actually higher on private lands than on public lands, which include national parks and other protected areas, once researchers accounted for differences in aridity and surveying efforts. In addition, the frog species recorded on private and public lands weren’t the same. Two species were recorded only on private lands and six only on public land.
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As researchers had expected, they found that citizen science more comprehensively surveyed public land than surveys by professional scientists, but the difference was more dramatic than expected. Data from professional surveys covered 19 per cent of NSW, while citizen scientists using FrogID covered 35 per cent. There were nearly 10 times as many FrogID records as professional records over the same time period.
But the clearest difference was in private lands. A remarkable 86 per cent of all FrogID records came from private lands, compared to only 59 per cent of records obtained via traditional methods.
Frog calls after floods
One of the biggest boons of citizen science is that it can help overcome many of the logistical obstacles associated with traditional professional surveys, particularly for frogs.
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.
Obtaining records of frogs from these areas via traditional surveys has long presented a major challenge for scientists. That’s because many frog species in arid and semi-arid areas only become active after heavy rains. But these areas can become inaccessible to scientists due to flooded roads.
By opportunistically recording frogs when they’re active, landholders are providing the vital information researchers need to better understand poorly-known frog species such as burrowing frogs from the Cyclorana genus and the charismatic crucifix frog (Notaden bennettii).
Via The Conversation
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