Abstract
The Southwest Florida Frog Monitoring Network was established in 2000 to collect long-term data on frog communities of the region. Routes of 10-12 stops were monitored monthly during the rainy season (June–September). Data on all frog calls during a three minute period were recorded using a three-level intensity code. We report results from the first ten years of monitoring to examine broad trends in the frog populations of southwest Florida. We explored the abundance of all frog species, as reflected by calling intensity, to elucidate potential factors that may influence long-term changes in frog populations and communities. These factors may include: natural variations of frog populations, disappearing and altered habitats through local and global human actions, landscape context, and the impacts of invasive species. At a regional scale, it appears that most frog species are maintaining natural variations in calling levels among years, suggesting that frogs are responding to annual variation and not regional or global changes. Use of behavioral indicators, such as calling intensity of frogs, may provide understanding of the environmental implications of altered hydroperiods and other landscape perturbations in our watershed and possibly some positive responses to restoration efforts.
