Activity
Environmental Change Network: Frogs

The common frog (Rana temporaria) has been selected for inclusion in the ECN programme as an example of a ubiquitous predatory amphibian. Adult frogs feed mainly on insects, slugs and snails but also eat woodlice and the larvae of moths and butterflies. During the breeding season, frogs live in shallow ponds and ditches, but spend much time on land during the rest of the year. The frog population is therefore affected by conditions on land as well as in the shallow water bodies in which they breed, including agricultural drainage, modification of breeding sites, acidification of fresh waters and pollution by fertilizers and from other sources. It is difficult to monitor populations of adult frogs, but a rough approximation of frog colony size in a pond can be obtained by monitoring spawn masses. Since frogs usually spawn in shallow water they are therefore usually reasonably accessible for monitoring purposes. Spawn development and the pond environment are monitored.

General Information

Objectives: To record the phenology of the spawning of the common frog in selected ponds and ditches by assessing the number of egg masses, as an indicator of the 'health' of frog populations. To identify any significant changes in those populations and to measure some physical characteristics of the ponds which may affect breeding success.
Environmental domain: Freshwater
Biosphere
Purpose Of collection: Data series
Policy
Keywords: Environmental Change
frog spawning
pond environment
Phenology
frog
Rana temporaria
Parameters measured: temperature
pH
Dates congregating
Chemistry
spawning
hatching
erff keywords: E1.1, E1.4, D3.1.2, B1, A4, C14, C16, E3.3.5, A4, B2, C1, D5.4, E3.2.9, C13.9, E3.2.3, E1.2.2, D3.1.4, E5.A.1, E5.A.2, E5.B.4.2, E5.C.3.9, E5.C.3.2, D5.2.4, G2.2.1, S3.8, S3.10, S3.11, S3.12, E3.1.1.6, D5.2.4
Measurement Regime: weekly
Links to data: UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) frog data: 1994-2012

Location

Bounding box

This activity uses these facilities/networks:

Wytham
Yr Wyddfa/Snowdon
Porton
Hillsborough
Sourhope
Alice Holt
North Wyke
Moor House - Upper Teesdale
Rothamsted (Harpenden)
Glensaugh research station
Drayton
Cairngorms

This activity is set up for these programmes:

Environmental Change Network

Costs/Funding

Categories: Public sector funding
Private sector funding
Future Funding Status: Unsure

Contacts

Lead organisation: Sue Rennie Centre for Ecology & Hydrology LANCASTER LA1 4AP UK ecnccu@ceh.ac.uk
Funder: Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute BELFAST BT9 5PX UK info@afbini.gov.uk http://www.afbini.gov.uk
Funder: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Polaris House North Star Avenue Swindon WILTSHIRE SN2 1UH UK +44 (0)1793 413200 http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/
Funder: Natural Resources Wales Ty Cambria 29 Newport Road CARDIFF CF24 0TP UK enquiries@naturalresourceswales.gov.uk +44 (0) 300 065 3000 http://naturalresourceswales.gov.uk/
Funder: Defence Science and Technology Laboratory Porton Down Salisbury WILTSHIRE SP4 0JQ UK +44 (0) 1980 613000 https://www.dstl.gov.uk/
Funder: Defra 17 Smith Square LONDON SW1P 3JR UK defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk +44 20 7238 6951 https://www.gov.uk/defra
Funder: Environment Agency National Customer Contact Centre PO Box 544 ROTHERHAM S60 1BY UK enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk 03708 506 506 https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/environment-agency
Funder: Forestry Commission 620 Bristol Business Park Coldharbour Lane BRISTOL BS16 1EJ UK fe.england@forestry.gsi.gov.uk +44 (0) 117 906 6000 http://www.forestry.gov.uk/
Funder: Welsh Government Cathays Park CARDIFF CF10 3NQ UK 0300 0603300 http://wales.gov.uk/
Funder: Natural England Foundry House 3 Millsands Riverside Exchange SHEFFIELD S3 8NH UK enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk 0300 060 3900 http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/
Funder: Natural Environment Research Council Polaris House North Star Avenue SWINDON SN2 1EU UK +44 (0) 1793 411500 http://www.nerc.ac.uk
Funder: Northern Ireland Environment Agency nieainfo@doeni.gov.uk 0845 302 0008 http://www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/
Funder: Scottish Environment Protection Agency Erskine Court Castle Business Park STIRLING FK9 4TR UK +44 (0) 1786 457700 http://www.sepa.org.uk/
Funder: Scottish Government St. Andrew's House Regent Road EDINBURGH EH1 3DG UK ceu@scotland.gsi.gov.uk 0300 244 4000 http://www.scotland.gov.uk
Funder: Scottish Natural Heritage Leachkin Road INVERNESS IV3 8NW UK enquiries@snh.gov.uk +44 (0) 1463 725000 http://www.snh.gov.uk
Other: ADAS Pendeford House Pendeford Business Park Wobaston Rd Pendeford WOLVERHAMPTON WV9 5AP UK enquiries@adas.co.uk 0845 766 0085 http://www.adas.co.uk/
Other: Forest Research Alice Holt Lodge Farnham SURREY GU10 4LH UK research.info@forestry.gsi.gov.uk 01420 22255 http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestresearch
Other: Marine Scotland Science 375 Victoria Road PO Box 101 ABERDEEN AB11 9DB UK +44 (0)1224 876544 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/marine/science
Other: Rothamsted Research Harpenden HERTFORDSHIRE AL5 2JQ UK + 44 (0) 1582 763 133 http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk
Other: The James Hutton Institute Craigiebuckler Craigiebuckler ABERDEEN AB15 8QH UK info@hutton.ac.uk +44 (0) 844 928 5428 http://www.hutton.ac.uk/
Other: UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network http://awmn.defra.gov.uk/

Metadata

Publication status: PUBLIC
Record identifier: cac3a803-8de9-4976-8f49-e4bcb0de315c
Last modified: 2017-08-21 11:09:54
Metadata author: Centre for Ecology & Hydrology enquiries@ceh.ac.uk
Other identifier: Envirobase 1322187
UKEOF 473130

Activity Environmental Change Network: Frogs