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Frogs And Toads Of New York

Most everyone recognizes frogs. Frogs, like salamanders and newts, are amphibians. Unlike salamanders, they have made a major evolutionary detour from the body plan of their ancient ancestors. The hind legs of frogs are much larger than the forelegs and the tail has disappeared. This allows a new mode of locomotion, namely jumping, an effective method to elude their many predators. Because they leave the ground to get around, using scent to communicate with each other is not a viable option, as it is for salamanders. Consequently, frogs are among the most vocal of vertebrate animals (birds fly, so they vocalize a lot as well!). Frogs in New York fall into four major groups (families) linked by anatomy and other features of their biology.

Toads

Toads are frogs that, due to the nature of their coarse dry skin, are adapted to spend most of their life on land. We have three kinds in two different families. The very common American toad is easily recognized by the warts all over its back and sides and by a pair of large bean-shaped glands are located just behind the head. These glands produce a mild poison that the toad stores in its bladder. When handled, toads will produce a copious urine with enough of this foul-tasting toxin to deter most predators. As a consequence, toads do not need to be good leapers to escape their enemies. Toads begin breeding late in April when males begin producing their long, rather musical trill. One can imitate this call by whistling and humming at the same time. Toads use all sorts of water bodies to deposit their long strings of eggs. Since hatching and tadpole development can be completed in as little as four to six weeks, toads often use temporary bodies of water to deposit eggs. This may include large puddles and deep tire tracks that hold water.

The similar Fowler's toad is found in the southeastern part of the state and on Long Island. It has many warts in each of the dark spots on its back and sides, while the American toad has one or two warts per spot.

One representative of the spadefoot toad family reaches New York, although they are restricted to the sandy-soil pine habitats of Long Island and the Pine Bush near Albany. Spadefoots can be recognized by their rather smooth skin, vertical eye pupils, and the dark hard patches of skin on their toes used for digging. They spend much of their time underground and are most active on the surface at night following heavy spring and summer rains.

Treefrogs

The only true tree frog of New York, the gray treefrog, is common over the entire region. It is most often observed in late spring and early summer when the males make their characteristic loud trilling calls. Calling sites are usually in the lower branches of trees near the water's edge. They possess large round toe pads that enable them to maintain their grip even on vertical surfaces. Adults are mostly gray with black splotches but they can change their color pattern to a degree and may appear bright green to silvery. A flash of yellow is found on the undersides of their legs.

The spring peeper is clearly one of the most common vertebrate animals in New York, found in nearly all forested habitats within a few miles of standing water. Although few have actually seen one, nearly everyone has heard the distinct, and very loud, peep these tiny frogs produce. Despite their inclusion in the treefrog family, peepers are rarely found in trees. Outside of the breeding season they may be found leaping along the forest floor in search of insects. And what a leap it is, nearly 50 times their inch and a half length! In the breeding season, male peepers gather in the weedy vegetation at the edge of ponds to call and attract females for mating.

Eggs are attached singly to underwater plants and hatch within a week. After about 45-60 days, depending partly on water temperature, the tadpoles emerge from the water and inhabit the leafy litter of the forest. Other members of the treefrog family include the northern cricket frog, found in a few areas south of the Catskills, and the western chorus frog, which occurs along the western Lake Ontario plain and the Watertown area.

Typical Frogs

The bullfrog is the clear winner in the size department among New York frogs, attaining lengths of 7 inches from snout to tailbone. The low frequency "jug-o-rum" call they produce is familiar to all May and June visitors of the region's lakes and ponds.

Like all amphibians, bullfrogs are carnivorous and they will attempt to eat anything that will fit into their considerable mouths. This includes insects, snakes, other frogs, and even birds and mammals. Like most frogs, bullfrogs are visual predators and will react by orienting their bodies towards any small movements around them. If you see a frog catch an insect, look closely and it seems like it closes its eyes as it swallows. Small muscles attached to the eyeball pull it towards the back of its throat and help force the food down into the stomach.One of the most common mid-sized frogs across New York is the green frog. They can be superabundant in marshes, ponds, lakes, and quiet backwaters of streams if their insect food supplies are also abundant. Male green frogs, like those of bullfrogs, have visible eardrums on the side of their heads that are bigger in diameter than their eye. The eardrum of females is smaller than the eye. Green frogs make at least six vocalizations, but the most often heard is the advertisement call of the male. It has been compared to plucking a banjo string.

Mink frogs may be found in the colder waters of northern New York, primarily in the Adirondacks. They are small frogs that at first glance are easily confused with the much more common green frog. Careful examination of the spotting pattern across the folded hind limbs, which appears random in mink frogs and continuous in green frogs, will distinguish the two. The presence of a strong musky odor on your hands after you release one will clinch the identification as a mink frog.

Before winter is officially over, and often while there is still ice on the ponds, a sound like quacking ducks may be heard in forest ponds and beaver flows. This is the wood frog, the first of the New York amphibians to make an appearance each year.

Wood frogs hibernate in the leaf litter of the forest floor, usually just a few inches below the surface. Scientists have learned that these frogs, as well as the spring peeper and gray treefrog, can tolerate partial freezing of their body tissues, a condition that is lethal to most animals. They accomplish this through two methods. The first entails the use of antifreeze compounds, including the same ethylene glycol we put in our automobiles, that circulates in their blood and lowers the freezing point. The second mechanism involves removing much of the water from their cells so it doesn't freeze inside the cells. When water freezes, it expands and the resulting ice could easily break apart cell membranes.

Wood frogs possess a distinctive black patch around the eyes on an otherwise brown body. Wood frogs are found throughout the forested parts of New York and may be observed quite far from water. There are two species of common dark-spotted frogs found across New York, often side by side at pond edges. The northern leopard frog is light brown to bright green with dark round spots, each with a light border, found irregularly on its back and legs. The pickerel frog has a lighter background color and squarish spots with no light border which occur in two rows down its back. There is often a distinct flash of yellow coloration on the thighs of pickerel frogs. Both are fond of the grassy and weedy borders of ponds, and are often found quite some distance from the water. Their early spring staccato calls sound like a particularly loud snore and the two species may be distinguished by the pitch of their call.

Ecological Roles

Like most organisms, frogs are vital links between food web feeding levels because they are important food sources for many other organisms. Frogs, however, play a unique role in connecting aquatic and terrestrial food webs, due to their two lifestyles. All New York frogs start life as aquatic tadpoles, feeding on plant and animal material in water. When they metamorphose into air-breathing adults, they carry some of this aquatic energy stored in their bodies and export it onto land, where it can enter new food chains.

Checklist of Frog Species Found Within New York

Eastern Spadefoot

Eastern American Toad

Fowler's Toad

Northern Cricket Frog (Threatened)

Northern Gray Treefrog

Cope's Gray Treefrog

Northern Spring Peeper

Upland Chorus Frog

Western Chorus Frog

Bullfrog

Green Frog

Mink Frog

Wood Frog

Northern Leopard Frog

Southern Leopard Frog (Special Concern)

Pickerel Frog

Department Of Forest And Wildlife Ecology Starts Series Off Strong

Special guest Ivan Gomez-Mestre presents findings of recent amphibian research

Sept. 29, the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology kicked off its seminar series with a lecture by ecologist, Dr. Ian Gomez-Mestre, from the Eco-Evo-Devo group at the Doñana Biological Station in Seville, Spain.

Gomez-Mestre shared the findings of his most recent research, which studied the impact of environmental factors on the genetic expression and development of tadpoles.

"Organisms use environmental cues to assess environmental suitability then react by adjusting their behavior," Gomez-Mestre said.

Gomez-Mestre said the process of birds flying south for the winter is a common example of a species' "plastic" response to an environmental cue, which he described as any physical, behavioral or genetic change in an organism facilitated by these cues. This prompted Gomez-Mestre to wonder if — and to what extent — the three were intertwined.

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Using data collected on western spadefoot tadpoles, Gomez-Mestre said he analyzed how different combinations of environmental cues altered the size, development and regulation of genes in the species. Common stressors that serve as cues for these toads include pond drying and predator presence. The two then became the principal variables in Gomez-Mestre's experiment.

Upon exposure to pond drying, Gomez-Mestre said he observed tadpoles were reduced in size and showed signs of accelerated development and metabolic rate. Genetic testing on the brain, liver and tail revealed only the liver's genetic regulation changed significantly in this environment.

Exposure to a predator, however, yielded contrasting data, Gomez-Mestre said. Tadpoles were noted to have increased in size and experienced delays in metamorphosis. Genetic testing demonstrated that gene regulation was most impacted in the brain and tail.

Gomez-Mestre then introduced a combination of the stressors to the tadpoles. He said there was a variable physical response from each tadpole.

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"Common risks may trigger conflictive plastic responses. Exposing organisms to multiple cues produces multiple or conflicting phenotypes," Gomez-Mestre said.

After consulting existing literature on the topic, Gomez-Mestre also said he found these results were consistent across several species — not just in the western spadefoot toad.

In the future, Gomez-Mestre said he hopes to replicate these findings using a comparative approach and multiple toad species.

The next installment of the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology's Seminar Series will be held Friday, Oct. 20 in room 184 of Russell Laboratories, and will feature a lecture by disease ecologist Mark Wilber.

Drivers Horrified As Writhing Toads Cover Entire Surface Of Road

"The word Biblical came to mind." Toad Work Ahead

The toads cometh.

In an incident that's been described by one witness as "toad-mageddon," a mile-and-a-half wide swarm of tiny toads reportedly overtook a stretch of highway in Stockton, Utah last week, causing a temporary traffic stand-still as drivers waited for the froggy critters to cross the road.

"I noticed that the road itself was moving," driver Mary Hulet told Utah outlet KSL News. "As I looked and I kind of focused on it, I realized that these were frogs or toads that were crossing the road."

"We aren't talking like 10 toads. We're talking like thousands of toads crossing the road," Hulet added. "I'm like, 'Is this like toad-mageddon? What in the world is going on here?'"

Judging from videos, toad-mageddon doesn't seem too far off. Per KSL, experts estimate that the amphibious mass was comprised of hundreds of thousands of toads, which we can only imagine was a remarkable — if somewhat terrifying — sight to behold.

Leaving the Nest

Wildlife professionals were as flabbergasted by the mass migration as the public was. Though the species of toad, confirmed to be the Great Basin spadefoot, is native to the area, and they do migrate, this degree of mass migration is apparently highly unusual.

"The word Biblical came to mind," Chris Crockett, the aquatics manager at the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, told KSL.

"It's completely natural, but I would definitely say that was a pretty spectacular event," he continued. "We're probably talking hundreds of thousands of toads."

That said, officials do have an explanation: water. Per KSL, Utah has gotten a lot of rainfall this year, with a string of recent thunderstorms adding to the deluge. This influx of hydration, experts say, provided ideal breeding conditions for the road toads, which hatch in water before heading up to land.

So, these hundreds of thousands of toads were likely all fledglings, attempting to cross the road as they left their watery nurseries. (And no, sadly, not everyone made it.)

"These juvenile toads decided it was a good time to leave their area and out-migrate into some of these surrounding hills," Crockett told KSL. "It's just a great example of how dependent most of the species in Utah are on good water years."

More on biblical amphibians: Experts Alarmed by Teen Breeding Millions of Frogs for "Frog Army"

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