We are funded by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (F22AF02584) to study crawfish frog abundance and population status in Oklahoma, in collaboration with Bo Zhang. Crawfish frogs are a unique species and are threatened in many parts of their range, but their status was poorly understood in Oklahoma, largely because of their secretive nature. Since 2023 we have been monitoring crawfish frog populations in Eastern Oklahoma to document their range and determine how they are doing in the state. In addition, we are developing methods to use bioacoustics to estimate population size and to build species distribution models based on indicators of breeding activity.
This project is in progress. Some exciting early findings of the project include:
-A substantially improved understanding of the distribution of crawfish frogs in Oklahoma, with 300 populations discovered including several new county records. Species distribution modeling of current range and future projections.
-Occupancy modeling based on crayfish burrow density.
-Acoustic monitoring of breeding phenology.
-Drift fence monitoring of a population at Atoka Wildlife Management Area, providing information on demographics and possible hybridization.
-A test of habitat effects on crawfish frog call propagation.
Relevant Publications:
Reichert Lab 