Expert explains key role of frogs in healthy ecosystems

MARCH 29, 2019

by Penny Jones, University of New South Wales

Dr. Jodi Rowley explains why frogs are so vital for healthy ecosystems, how she is working to conserve them and the positive impact she has already made to the study of amphibians in Southeast Asia.

Dr. Jodi Rowley has dedicated much of her career to illuminating what she calls 'the black hole' in the world's knowledge of amphibian life in South-East Asia. Her original impetus started following the release of the 'Global Amphibian Assessment' in 2004 which was published by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

"The report was the first comprehensive examination of how amphibians are doing on a world level and highlighted the fact that they are in a lot of trouble. Today we estimate that an incredible 42 percent of all known species of amphibians are threatened with extinction," she says.

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