12 – A tale of threatened frogs: demonstrating the value of long-term monitoring^169state and Australian Government recourses to support the program have waned
and Zoos Victoria has taken a lead role in supporting ongoing recovery actions and
monitoring for this species, within in-kind local government support.
Spotted tree frog Litoria spenceri
The spotted tree frog (Fig. 12.2) is confined to rocky mountain streams
predominantly on the western fall of the Great Dividing Range, between the
Central Highlands of Victoria and Mount Kosciuszko in southern New South
Wales (Gillespie and Hollis 1996). It is listed as Endangered under the EPBC Act.
Until the 1990s, this species was poorly known, but concerns were raised when its
disappearance was reported from all but two known localities in the late 1980s
(Watson et al. 1991). Extensive surveys were subsequently implemented to evaluate
the distribution and pattern of decline (Gillespie and Hollis 1996), and a research
program was implemented to investigate its ecology and factors responsible for
decline (Gillespie 2001; West 2015). A monitoring program was initiated in 1992 to
remedy the paucity of knowledge on the population ecology of this species and to
evaluate patterns of further population trends, because at that stage the magnitude
and nature of decline were unclear. Mark–recapture programs were established on
transects along three streams and have been surveyed four to nine times annually.
These sites have also provided a platform for broader ecological research on the
Fig. 12.2. The spotted tree frog Litoria spenceri is found in rocky mountain streams flowing west from the
Great Dividing Range between the Central Highlands of Victoria and Mount Kosciuszko, New South Wales.
Photo: G. Gillespie.