Frog Calls of Nebraska CD will Help Fans and Trackers

Anyone who claims that humans invented music hasn’t heard Frog Calls of Nebraska, the CD just released by herpetologist Dennis Ferraro. Each of the 11 musical tracks – one for each species native to Nebraska – has rhythm, melody, and meaning. Among frogs, all the vocalists are male. Females don’t have the ability to produce sound, explained Ferraro, on faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s School of Natural Resources. The lyrics, like much of our own pop music, are all about finding a mate. The simple bass line translates to, “I’m here in my territory,” while the more elaborate, higher-pitched melody is, “Come over ASAP!” The CD is $10 at Nebraska Maps and More, which is on the ground floor of Hardin Hall at 33rd and Holdrege, and on the web at http://nebraskamaps.unl.edu. Maps and More will donate copies of the CD to libraries and nature centers around the state. A sample of the CD can be heard here - Plains Spadefoot Toad.

Most of the recordings are between one and a half and two minutes long, and they tend to be performed by smaller groups. The distinctions Ferraro wants people to hear were lost in larger groups.

Why learn frog songs?

“Some people who are interested in nature enjoy listening to frog calls when they’re relaxing,” Ferraro said.

In addition to the aesthetic benefit, people who are familiar with frog calls can help scientists track populations. Thin-skinned amphibians are particularly vulnerable to changing environmental conditions, so population declines or shifts can serve as an early indicator that something is amiss or changing in an ecosystem.

“Amphibian decline is a global problem,” Ferraro said. In fact, zoos around the world are recognizing 2008 as The Year of the Frog, to focus attention on the problem of amphibian decline.

Listening to frog calls helps scientists track populations. “Sometimes frog calls are the only way to identify populations, because frogs are secretive and hard to find.”

Herpetologists resort to surveillance equipment to track elusive frogs. They place waterproof recording equipment – “frogloggers” – near a pond or wetland overnight, and program it to record for two minutes every hour.

After people learn to distinguish the grumbling of the Plains Spadefoot Toad from the cheery whistling of Woodhouse’s Toad, they can go report which species they heard at http://snr.unl.edu/herpneb, which goes into Ferraro’s database of frog “sightings.”