The impacts of agricultural practices on the occurrence of frogs in Southwest Victoria

As a result of an ever-growing and rapidly expanding human population, the demand for food production has reached new levels. Predictions to meet this demand in the coming decades will see agricultural expansion on a scale like never before with more natural landscapes set to succumb to modification and destruction. The impacts of agricultural practices on global wildlife through habitat loss and destruction have been widely evident for all taxa and cause for alarm, however, the rapid decline of amphibians over the last few decades has been extraordinary. In this study, we investigated the impacts of cropping, grazing, wetland type, refuge and tree availability, and vegetation type on the occurrence of frog species in the lake district of south-west Victoria. We carried out two nocturnal audio surveys on 23 cropped and 23 uncropped swamps on either privately owned land or public access roadsides. Using occupancy modelling and principal components analysis, we found one species (Limnodynastes tasmaniensis) responded to the types of swamps available whereas another species (Litoria ewingii) negatively reacted to grazing levels and showed favourable vegetation types. No species were impacted by cropping, refuge availability or tree availability. With agricultural intensification on the rise, the importance of understanding wildlife responses to these practices is critical. This knowledge will help guide and implement land management practices and conservation efforts to assist in slowing down the rate of biodiversity loss.