Michael speaks to Jodi Rowley, Curator of amphibian & reptile conservation biology at the Australian Museum & the University of NSW, featured in an article by Melbourne journalist Ricky French as she tries to find the peppered tree frog which hasn’t been sighted since the 1970s and is believed by some to be extinct due to chytrid fungus.

French writes ‘being about the size of a fingernail and coloured mottled brown, Rowley admits it’s the ultimate needle in the haystack. So why bother? Because, she says, the richness of life is worth fighting for. Every species lost punches another hole in the ecosystem. Often we don’t know what we’re losing, or what we could stand to gain. “Frogs are actually beneficial to crops and farming, but that’s a lot harder to quantify for your average Joe,” she admits.’

 

Ricky French’s full article can be read using this link

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/why-are-our-frogs-disappearing-and-is-it-too-late-to-save-them/news-story/3497ecc586c1f2e24b8d7db27e50d885