Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Arizona
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Introduced American bullfrogs are an important threat to native aquatic and semi-aquatic species, including federally threatened reptiles and amphibians, in southeast Arizona. Bullfrogs have high dispersal and reproductive potential which greatly complicates landscape-scale eradication efforts. Moreover, because of an emphasis on bullfrog eradication in southeast Arizona, several knowledge gaps exist in their ecology and filling these knowledge gaps could help refine and enhance ongoing eradication efforts.

This study will fill existing knowledge gaps in our understanding of bullfrog ecology in southeast Arizona by studying their dispersal and reproductive ecology. We will use previously collected data from ongoing eradication efforts combined with field-based mark-recapture surveys.

This project is in collaboration with Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) and is part of a larger regional effort at bullfrog eradication involving AGFD, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This project is being led by University of Arizona MS student Emma Sudbeck.

The information gained from this project will provide a more accurate understanding of how far and in what manner bullfrogs disperse across the landscape and of their reproductive ecology including the timing, duration, and frequency of breeding. This information will help more accurately target bullfrog populations for eradication, identify at-risk areas for bullfrog recolonization, and optimize the timing of eradication efforts.