Alumni|
Dr Emily Hoffman
“One of the main questions I was trying to answer in my PhD was why these frog species were declining. If we can better understand a species’ habitat and environmental needs and their threats, we can hopefully give them a better chance of surviving.”

In the current global biodiversity extinction crisis, amphibians are one of the most threatened groups of animals. For many amphibian species, the reason for their decline is unclear, as is how they will be impacted by climate change. My thesis focused on threatened terrestrial-breeding frogs (white- and orange-bellied frogs) that occur in forest drainages in southwest Western Australia, a region that is becoming drier and warmer. This thesis determined that drying conditions were a principal driver of recent white-bellied frog declines, that both frog species have specialised habitat and physiological requirements, and that climate change is an immediate threat.

ResearchingImproving conservation outcomes for critically endangered white-bellied frogs
AffiliatedUniversity of Western Australia|
Appointed2017
CountryAustralia
Focus areaPlanet