the status of northeastern Chorus Frog populations

(thanks to Dave Seburn of Seburn Ecological Services for the grandiose title, though there are no present plans to make this an annual event)

Despite its vernacular, the ‘Western' Chorus Frog, Pseudacris triseriata triseriata, is found farther east than any other Chorus Frog, though this eastern range was discovered, in Quebec and Vermont, only in the 1950's and 1970's. But in many places where it was found in those decades, it is now absent. Even in areas like central southern Ontario, some observers feel that choruses are much more widely scattered than they were in the past. In the first five years of the Marsh Monitoring programme, this was the only anuran that significantly declined in frequency in the Great Lakes Basin (Weeber & Vallianatos. 2000. The Marsh Monitoring Program 1995-1999).

Relatively suddenly, there was a lot of Chorus Frog work planned: Jean-François Desroches beginning a master's project on year-round habitat use, Seburn Ecological Services analysing Ontario records, James Gibbs at Syracuse resurveying New York sites where Chorus Frogs were heard in the 1970's, and the EOBM planning to resurvey sites in eastern Ontario and the outer Bruce Peninsula. There are also questions about the status of the northeastern-most populations of the Boreal Chorus Frog, P. t. maculata, along the James Bay shore of Quebec, and the White River & Thunder Bay areas of Ontario.

In early January, 2001, we began a simple-minded e-mail list (i.e. REPLY ALL or send messages to bckcdb@istar for resending to everyone who's joined the list), discussing work with Ontario/ New York/ New England/ Quebec Chorus Frogs, and this group decided a meeting would be useful. We had two roundtable sessions, Saturday afternoon, 3 March, and Sunday morning, 4 March, at the EOBM, in which each of us presented what we'd found out about Chorus Frogs, or what we're planning to do.

This meeting resulted in a resolution expressing our concern for northeastern Chorus Frogs, and laying out a programme of actions we feel are necessary to understand and conserve them, and a collection of papers given at the conference or contributed by those who couldn't attend. If you're interested in northeastern Chorus Frogs - or are undertaking any of the actions suggested by the resolution - you can still join the e-mail list by writing to me at bckcdb@istar.ca. - F. W. Schueler - 10 March 2001

The Eastern Ontario Biodiversity Museum, a recently incorporated full-service natural history museum, is located in Kemptville, on the Rideau River, about halfway between Ottawa and Brockville. To reach the EOBM by car, take Hwy 416 south from Ottawa, or north from Hwy 401 (at Prescott), to the County Rd 43, Kemptville, exit. Go east on 43 to the traffic lights at Co Rd 44 (the first lights at a real intersection), and south to an acute intersection, dogleg east around a triangular traffic island, and go south again on Sanders Street to Northside Plaza, where the entrance to the EOBM is conspicuously indicated.