The survey was started in 1997.
With mud season underway and snowbanks fast disappearing, an annual spring ritual is sounding off across the state.
Susan Gallo and Aram Calhoun, co-coordinators for the Maine Amphibian Monitoring Program, are seeking volunteers to survey frogs.
Every year, more than 60 Maine Audubon citizen-science volunteers venture out at night to listen for and note the sounds of frogs from early spring through midsummer.
They listen first in early April to hear spring peepers and wood frogs, then in late spring to hear American toads, northern leopard frogs and pickerel frogs.
In early summer, the amphibian swamp chorus leaders are gray tree, green, mink and bullfrogs.
Volunteers make 10 stops along their routes, waiting five minutes at each stop, and making note of the frog species they hear. Surveys take about two hours to complete and must be conducted after sunset.
This year, volunteers are being sought for routes in Bethel and West Paris, and from Wiscasset to Chapman in Aroostook County.
Begun in 1997 when Maine Audubon and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife established 60 road routes, the project provides important data to assess amphibian populations not only in Maine, but nationwide as part of an effort coordinated by the U.S. Geological Survey, said Maine Audubon spokeswoman Marie Malin.
Amphibians are sensitive to changes in water quality, ultraviolet light radiation, and land-use practices that degrade or eliminate habitat, states volunteer guidelines for the project.
“Apparent declines of amphibian populations in recent years are of concern because they may relate to important changes in environmental quality,” adds the document that was written by Gallo and Calhoun.
Concern over the vulnerability of amphibians led to the creation of the Maine Amphibian Monitoring Program with funds provided by the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund.
Interested participants should contact Gallo in Falmouth at 781-2330 ext. 216 or [email protected].
To learn more about the amphibian monitoring program, visit www.maineaudubon.org/conserve/citsci/mamp.shtml.
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