On the Expedition
Help scientists unravel the mystery of the world's vanishing frog species in an eastern Australian rainforest.
Join Associate Professor Michael Mahony from the University of Newcastle and explore the fertile mountain forests of Australia’s Hunter region, collecting data that will help scientists understand how our frog populations might cope or flounder as they encounter chytrid infections. In the past Earthwatch volunteers have contributed to the exciting discovery of four new species of frog and have identified both healthy and struggling frog populations. Teams are now needed to find out why some frogs are dying while others are flourishing.
Meals and Accommodations
Be prepared for camping-style accommodations. The approach here is to camp at sites where the team will have access to bush kitchens (undercover sheds with an open fire place and benches). Duties in the preparation of food and cooking will be shared in rotating teams and depending on team numbers; any graduate student research assistants present will share the duties of scientific direction and logistics. The research sites at which you will work are within a State Forest, and are some distance from the local towns. A considerable portion of work occurs after dark, and camping near the study sites avoids night-time driving. Because the aim is to study a number of sites, a single base camp nearby is most efficient and provides unrivalled access to the forest that just cannot be matched working out of built facilities.
There will be a large central camp tent and all necessary gear to make work and leisure time comfortable. The site where you will camp has toilets but not showers, although there is a nearby creek for freshening up.
About the Research Area
Watagan National Park, New South Wales
The rainforests of the Eastern escarpment World Heritage Area occur on the Great Escarpment of the Great Dividing Range. This range runs roughly parallel to the east coast of Australia and is separated from the coast by a narrow coastal plain. The plain is a rich agricultural zone that has been extensively cleared. The escarpment, however, is forested and provides habitat for a rich and varied flora and fauna.
These forests contain flora that has its origins and evolution in the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, and the flowering trees are ancestors to the flowering trees of the world. By international standards the mountains are not high, rising to a maximum of 1200 meters. In the ancient landscapes of Australia, the Great Dividing Range is perhaps the most significant landscape feature of the eastern seaboard.