Australia’s biggest frog count will get underway tomorrow as citizen scientists are asked to help find valuable data for the protection and conservation of the amphibians.

USC Senior Lecturer in Animal Ecology Dr Dominique Potvin is urging Queenslanders to dedicate one week to getting outdoors to identify frogs in their area as part of FrogID week from 12-21 November.

“It is one small way to contribute to preserving Australia’s truly unique frog species and preventing extinction in a very real capacity,” said Dr Potvin, an evolutionary and behavioural ecologist who has conducted studies into frog behaviour and survival.

“Frogs are some of our most threatened wildlife, and Queensland currently has 10 of the top 15 species at risk for extinction,” Dr Potvin said.

“Two actions are the key to saving our frogs: captive breeding programs; and creating refuge areas by protecting crucial habitat for frogs.

“We can’t protect what we don’t know,” she said. “We need to know where frogs live, and which frogs live where.”