How well are different frogs represented in the Australian reserve system?
We used a national database to assess the effectiveness of Australia’s reserve system in “covering” anuran species. We obtained 96948 anuran records for 215 species, of which 25960 (26.8%) fell within one of 7416 IUCN criteria reserves that protect 77641951 (10.8%) hectares of mainland Australia. 171 species were represented by >20 records and were considered further. These species had a mean 32.0% of records within reserves, with 42 species having >40% of records in reserves and Bryobatrachus nimbus and Pseudophryne corroboree were 100% reserved. Eighteen species had >10% of records within reserves, with Cyclorana cryptotis and Neobatrachus fulvus not being recorded in a reserve. Species with “high” reservation are typically restricted to upland areas of eastern Australia and often have relatively small distributional ranges. Species with few records in reserves typically had ranges falling almost or entirely within the lower rainfall, but high agricultural productivity areas of eastern and western Australia. Both trends are attributable to the high and low levels of reservation within the respective regions. Of some interest are several species restricted to near coastal habitats in eastern Australia that have relatively high proportions of records within reserves (eg Litoria olongburensis and Crinia tinnula), but are thought to be under threat from habitat loss through development. Uperoleia capitulata is one species that may be of concern because it has few records and lives in areas prone to clearance.