Funded by a Grassroots Grant from the Alinytjara Wilurara Landscape Board, Anangu rangers from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in the far north-west of South Australia are leading a project to learn more about a tiny and elusive amphibian using a combination of new technology and traditional knowledge.
Possibly Australia’s newest frog species – so new it has not yet been formally named – is a toadlet from the genus Pseudophryne “This frog has only been located in this one spring, in an area about one metre by one metre.” says APY Ranger Coordinator Kieran Jairath.
The Anangu rangers will deploy audio monitoring devices called Audiomoths, with the APY Team recruiting Dr Kyle Armstrong, from the University of Adelaide, to refine the machine learning software and hardware to analyse the recordings and identify the specific call of the new frog providing real-time monitoring and tracking of frog activity.
Critical to the project is the involvement of the local community. While the Anangu rangers are monitoring the spring and managing the audio recording, multiple generations of Anangu are embracing the project with school students incorporating it into their science curriculum and Elders imparting their cultural and traditional ecological knowledge.
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