Can parental care behaviour and breeding microhabitat protect Critically Endangered nursery frogs from rising temperatures on Wet Tropics mountaintops? (Old ID 28975)

Supervisor

Nursery frogs are terrestrial breeders with ‘direct development’ and the male stays with the eggs until hatching. While climate change is their biggest threat and their breeding biology of is very poorly known. I will study parental care across Nursery frog species, under varied environmental conditions in the field (low elevation, upland areas, heatwaves, drought) to uncover the details of nest choice and parental care. I will use non-invasive cameras, artificial shelters, and data loggers in natural nesting sites to determine how variation in parental behaviour impacts larval survival and differs between species and microhabitats under different climatic conditions.

01 Apr 2023 - 01 Aug 2025

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