The Ecological Society of Australia is pleased to announce Danielle Wallace as the 2022 recipient of the Jill Landsberg Trust Fund Scholarship. Danielle is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne.

“In light of the changing climate and the ever-growing list of threats to wildlife, it is vitally important that we understand the ecology of endangered and declining frogs for effective conservation.”

The amphibian disease chytridiomycosis (‘chytrid’) has led to the decline and extinctions of hundreds of amphibian species around the world. Caused by the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), little is known about its effect on frog behaviour and reproduction.

“The lack of knowledge surrounding important aspects of amphibian reproductive behaviour is of serious conservation concern, given that changes in breeding success and recruitment have the potential to change population trajectories,” said Danielle Wallace.

It has been suggested that infection increases during the breeding season in many species due to high exposure rates.

In her research, Danielle is investigating how Bd affects amphibian breeding display. She is examining the call properties and disease status of Victorian tree frog species that have differing patterns of decline and infection susceptibilities. This includes the alpine tree frog (Litoria verreauxii alpina), the growling grass frog (L. raniformis), the green and golden bell frog (L. aurea), the stony creek frog (L. lesueuri), the southern brown tree frog (L. ewingii) and the whistling tree frog (L. verreauxii verreauxii).

“My project will address critical knowledge gaps in the sublethal effects of chytridiomycosis and its potential impact on the reproduction of vulnerable amphibians,” she said.

Danielle hopes that the findings of her research will help to manage populations in the field and in captive breeding programs, even if the species is not in current decline, and buffer against additional threatening processes.

“If disease-induced changes are important drivers of species’ coexistence with disease, we should prioritise the management of breeding strategies, such as habitat manipulation or translocation to new breeding sites, instead of prioritising strategies aimed at reducing disease burden,” she argues.

The funding from the Jill Landsberg Trust Fund Scholarship will go towards travel expenses for Danielle’s field research.

“I’m working on multiple frog species, so a lot of travel to different parts of Victoria is involved and definitely would not be possible without this award,” she said.

“This award will also help me to study other frogs that are closely related to my main study species, the critically endangered Alpine Tree frog. By understanding the response of threatened species to chytrid fungus infection, and also how more common, tolerant species are responding to disease, I will be able to get a better picture of how infection is influencing frog reproduction across the landscape.”

“To have received this award in honour of Jill Landsberg is an incredibly humbling experience. She contributed so much to the field of ecology, and I am very proud to contribute to this field in her honour.”

Danielle will present an update on her research at the joint conference of the Ecological Society of Australia and the Society for Conservation Biology Oceania (ESA-SCBO 2022) in late November. For more information, or to register, visit the conference website: https://www.esascbo2022.org.au

Adam Yaney-Keller (Monash University) and Renae Lambourne (James Cook University) were named as runners-up of the 2022 Jill Landsberg Trust Fund Scholarship.