• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • DONATE
  • SHOP
The Land Between

The Land Between

Explore - Learn - Inspire

  • About
        • Our Story
          • Our Goals
          • How We Operate
          • Staff and Council
          • Our Impact
          • Join Our Team
          • Partners and Supporters
        • About The Land Between Bioregion
          • Sacred Ecology
          • Natural Habitats
          • Wildlife & Species At Risk
          • People and Place
  • Projects
    • Blue Lakes
    • Working Watersheds
    • Turtle Guardians
    • Bird Buddies
    • Agwaamtoon Mshkiikii – Protecting Medicines
    • Native Gardens
    • Special Projects
  • Learning Centre
    • Consultation, Engagement, and Honouring Our Shared History
    • Living in the The Land Between
    • Invasive Species: Phragmites
    • Knowledge Circles
    • Community “Talks”
    • Regional Research
  • Get Involved
    • Wildlife Diary- Report a Species
    • Volunteer Nature Monitoring
    • Shop The Store
    • Donate
    • Work With Us
  • News & Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Camps
    • TLB Blogs
    • The Skink Newsletter

Expensive Frogs

June 13, 2022 by TLB

The British Columbia taxpayers have paid about $250,000 to fight the invasion of bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) in the Osoyoos region in southern B.C. Estimates for control programs for the entire province run into the tens of millions.

Why get rid of bullfrogs? They are not native to B.C. and they are eating the young of all the native frogs, threatening some with extinction. In addition, bullfrogs carry a chytrid skin fungus that is deadly to many other frogs. Many frogs are declining globally.

How did bullfrogs get into B.C.? Non-thinking speculators in frog leg farming brought some in. Others were brought in by gardeners just for the aesthetics of their lily ponds.

Green frogs (Rana clamitans) also have been introduced but are less menacing. We have many green frogs in the Land Between  and some bullfrogs. Why don’t we have the problems seen in B.C.? Our other frogs have lived with bullfrogs over evolutionary time and have developed adaptations to prevent population decline due to bullfrog predation on their young. Possibly we also have predators that hold back the bullfrog population. Otters eat both bullfrogs and green frogs that the otters catch in winter on the muddy bottom and bring up to eat on the edge of the ice. The amphibian species native to B.C. have not had the benefit of adapting over a long time to the bullfrogs.

These costly frogs are just one example of many costly invasions caused by humans moving species into ecological systems not adapted to the imported species. Consider purple loosestrife, arrived here from gardens in New England. We got Zebra mussels compliments of sea-going transportation with follow-up help from local boaters. Carp are not native to Ontario and we now are threatened by additional exotic carp species whose spread is supported by our engineering projects. European Phragmites or giant reed is expanding from an initial seeding by following the ditches along our highways. Phragmites and purple loosestrife take their choices from the habitat opportunities presented by road maintenance contracts that are insensitive to environmental effects.

Take home message? Stop moving exotics around. Some of them can become costly invasives that will threaten our native species. Learn to identify and eliminate invasives before they spread.

Written by: Gray Merriam

Check out more articles and activity sheets produced by the Merriams
Category: General, Invasive Species, Merriam's Corner

About TLB

Previous Post:Environmentalism and Populism
Next Post:Kennebec Wetlands Are The Best

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

  • Home
  • The Region
  • The Charity
  • Shop
  • Donate

 

 

The Land Between is a National Charity #805849916RR0001.

Your support helps us celebrate, conserve, and enhance this important region. You can reach us at:

P.O. Box 1368, Haliburton, ON K0M 1S0
705-457-1222 | info@thelandbetween.ca

We respectfully acknowledge that The Land Between is located within Williams Treaty 20 Mississauga Anishinaabeg territory and Treaty 61 Robinson-Huron treaty territory, in the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg. We respectfully acknowledge that these First Nations are the stewards and caretakers of these lands and waters in perpetuity and that they continue to maintain this responsibility to ensure their health and integrity for generations to come.

Copyright © 2022 The Land Between