Publications
Wildlife Australia, April 1997
ISBN 0 6422 1400 X
1. Family Hylidae
2. Scientific Name Litoria rheocola
3. English Name Creek Frog, Common Mist Frog
4. Intraspecific taxa
None.
5. Species survival status
Endangered. Monitoring indicates that the species is in serious decline in upland areas (Ingram and McDonald 1993).
6. Former distribution
Confined to an area of Qld located between Broadwater Falls, Lumholtz National Park (18°23'S, 145°57'E) to Amos Bay (15°41'S, 145°19'E) (McDonald 1992).
7. Current distribution
Now absent from almost all sites higher than 400m altitude, although declines have not been observed in lowland rainforest areas.
8. Habitat
On rocks and vegetation, adjacent to fast flowing streams in rainforests.
9. Reasons for decline
Unknown. Richards et al. (1993) reject drought, floods, habitat destruction or pollution by pesticides, inorganic ions or heavy metals.
10. Conservation reserves on which species occurs
Qld: Daintree, Crater Lakes, Wooroonooran, Millstream, Cedar Bay, Lumholtz, and Crater National Parks.
11. Other public lands on which species occurs
Qld: Mt Lewis, Maalan, Tam O'Shanter, Kirrama, Ravenshoe, Lamb Range, Herberton Range, and Windsor Tableland State Forests, State Forest (758 Alcock), Daintree Timber Reserve (165 Monkhouse).
12. Other land on which species occurs
Unknown.
13. Is knowledge about species adequate for objectives and actions to be defined accurately?
No. Only the most fundamental biological issues have been established.
14. Recovery Plan objectives
14.1. To secure existing populations of the species.
14.2. To determine the causal agent/s responsible for the decline of the species.
14.3. To reduce or eliminate threatening processes.
14.4. To increase the number of stable populations by expansion into the former range.
14.5. To ensure that frog conservation is considered in all relevant land management decisions.
15. Management actions completed or under way
15.1. This species, along with seven other Wet Tropics species, is the subject of a recovery program for threatened frogs of Qld and northern NSW (Coordinator: K.R. McDonald, Qld Department of Environment). The program involves survey, monitoring, ecological research and research into potential causes of decline.
15.2. A draft recovery plan has been prepared (Martin and McDonald 1995).
16. Management actions required: Actions outlined in the draft recovery plan include
16.1. Monitoring.
16.2. Research into causes of decline.
16.3. Ecological research.
16.4. Captive breeding.
16.5. Genetic studies.
16.6. Public information.
17. Organisations responsible for conservation of species
Qld Department of Environment.
18. Other organisations involved
James Cook University, Co-operative Research Centre for Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management, University of Queensland, Qld Department of Natural Resources, Wet Tropics Management Authority, amateur frog clubs.
19. Can recovery plan be carried out with existing resources?
No.
Draft recovery plan for Wet Tropics frogs, including this species, includes: survey and monitoring component ($75K per annum); identification of cause of decline (total cost $249K); and captive breeding (total cost $504K). Total cost of implementation of the draft recovery plan is estimated at $1647K over 5 years (7 species).
Total (average cost per species) $235.3K
References:
Ingram, G.J. and McDonald, K.R. 1993. An update on the decline of Queensland's frogs. pp 297-303 in Herpetology in Australia: a diverse discipline. Eds D. Lunney, and D. Ayers, Royal Zoological Society of NSW, Mosman.
Martin, W.E. and McDonald, K.R. 1995. Draft recovery plan for the stream-dwelling rainforest frogs of the Wet Tropics biogeographic region of north-east Queensland. Unpublished report to the Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Canberra.
McDonald, K.R. 1992. Distribution patterns and conservation status of north Queensland rainforest frogs. Conservation Technical Report No. 1, Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage, Brisbane.
Richards, S.J., McDonald, K.R., Alford, R.A. 1993. Declines in populations of Australia's endemic tropical rainforest frogs. Pacific Conservation Biology 1: 66-77.
Herpetological authorities consulted:
R.A. Alford, J.-M. Hero, K.R. McDonald, S.J. Richards.