Frog Conservation Initiatives in India

I have been associated with frogs since 1970 when these animals were in abundance. We used to observe in small village ponds and shallow water ditches. I sincerely realised their importance in 1977 during my doctoral research on spadefoot frogs (Sperotheca breviceps) and later on during my post-doctoral research programme in Europe and USA. India, one of the mega-biodiversity countries has about 350 species of amphibians including frogs, toads, urodeles and apodans. Frogs are facing various kind of threats for their survival; these includes anthropogenic as well as natural pressures. Still we don’t have complete documentation of anurans. Every month some new species or record is coming in publications. Tools of identification and assessment are obsolete. In 2004 I found bioacoustic tools for identification, assessment and monitoring of frogs. These modern tools using acoustic signals can help in identification of frogs in dense canopy and remote areas. These tools also help in quantification of data of success of initiatives such as SAVE THE FROGS!.