Restoring Western Chorus Frog Habitat in Mont-Saint-Bruno National Park
Restoring Western Chorus Frog Habitat in Mont-Saint-Bruno National Park
| The Western Chorus Frog was declared vulnerable in Quebec in the early 2000s, but its status is under review and may change to threatened. Once found in abundance along the south shore of the St. Lawrence in the 1950s, now there are only a few fragmented populations of this tiny amphibian remaining. And all of them can be found between the river and Highway 30. Western Chorus Frog habitat continues to be destroyed and fragmented by urban development. In 2015 and 2016, the Quebec Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks and the Mont-Saint-Bruno National Park began to experiment with restoring irrigation ditches, a habitat appreciated by the chorus frog. Mini-dikes were built there to keep water levels at 30 cm until mid-summer and to limit abrupt changes in temperature, regardless of the amount of precipitation. Since 2017, close water monitoring has been carried out across five developed sites and some control sites. Corrections have also been made to ensure proper drainage of excess water during heavy rains. This process helps us learn more about chorus frog habitat and understand its dynamics throughout the water basin. In the long term, this project aims to reintroduce populations of Western Chorus Frogs into Mont-Saint-Bruno National Park.
This tiny frog, no bigger than a $2 coin, breeds in temporary wetlands. These habitats, dry out slowly, preventing predators like fish, green frogs and dragonfly larvae from feeding on the tadpoles. |
