Tracking the spread of the eastern dwarf tree frog (Litoria fallax) in Australia using citizen science

Abstract

An increasing number of species are establishing populations outside of their native ranges, often with negative ecological and economic impacts. The detection and surveillance of invasive species presents a huge logistical challenge, given the large spatial regions in which new populations can appear. However, data collected through citizen science projects are increasingly recognised as a valuable source for detection and monitoring of invasive species. We use data from a national citizen science project, FrogID, to quantify the spread of the eastern dwarf tree frog (Litoria fallax) outside its historical native range in Australia. Of 48 012 records of L. fallax in the FrogID database, 485 were located far outside the historical native range of the species. L. fallax has established geographically large populations hundreds of kilometres away from its native range, and these appear to be spreading in extent over time. These populations have resulted in novel species co-occurrences, with L. fallax now co-occurring with at least two frog species not present in their native range. Although the impacts of the invasive populations of L. fallax remain unknown, our work highlights the value in leveraging citizen science projects to detect and monitor native species that can become invasive far outside their historical range.