Endangered Species Project
By: Jackie Rubalcava
Endangered Mississippi Gopher Frog: Native to the U.S.
Mississippi Gopher Frog: Background
- This animal is native to the U.S.
- This frog once made its home in 9 countries or parishes in Louisiana's lower coastal plain, east of the Mississippi River to to the Mobile River in Alabama.
- It has not been seen in Louisiana since 1967 and in Alabama since 1922.
- Presently known to survive in Harrison County, Mississippi.
- Fire is the only known management that will help the remaining breeding pond suitable.
- Their habitat includes both upland forested areas and temporary wetlands within the forested landscapes.
- The majority live underground in forest with an open canopy. They currently use abandoned mammal burrows and holes in and under pine trees. In the past they used active and abandoned gopher tortoise burrows.
- Timing and frequency of rainfall are vital to the reproduction of these frogs.
Mississippi Gopher Frog: Threats and Solutions
- These frogs are critically endangered. They were listed on the endangered list in 2001.
- There is only one remaining population, consisting of about 100 adult frogs.
- Their major threats are habitat fragmentation, fire suppression,the low number of remaining individual frogs, sedimentation, toxic chemical run-off and environmental variability.
- To help these endangered frogs people can learn and understand how the destruction of the habitat leads to more deaths of the frogs . And once they know more, alert others of what they learned.
- Join a conservation group!
- Some things are already being done. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been working with the U.S. Forest Service to protect them. They have developed a strategy to introduces egg masses into ponds.
- We could also help in many recovery plans that they have come up with. Which are establishing new populations in the wild, construction new breeding ponds, and improving occupied sites.
Bibliography
"Mississippi Gopher Frog Fact Sheet." fws.gov. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, n.d. Web. 6 December 2015.
"Mississippi Gopher Frog." fws.gov.U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, n.d. Web. 6 December 2015."Zoo Animals: Mississippi Gopher Frog." Detroitzoo.com. Detroit Zoo, n.d. Web. 6 December 2015.