Riparian Habitat

Biology faculty are working with biologists from the Arizona Game & Fish Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to establish breeding populations of Longfin Dace (Agosia chrysogaster) and Chiricahua Leopard Frogs (Rana chiricahuensis) in the greenhouse pond.
Longfin dace live in desert streams throughout Arizona. In our pond, they effectively keep the mosquito larvae population under control.
Leopard frogs are disappearing across the US and especially in Arizona. While the reasons for their demise are still being studied, biologists have identified introduced predators, disease, drought and loss of habitat as major causes. The Chiricahua Leopard frogs now liviing in our greenhouse were displaced from their native habitat as a consequence of recent forest fires. The GCC pond provides a refuge for this threatened population of frogs.
If the fish and frogs in the GCC Greenhouse and Riparian Habitat thrive and reproduce, their offspring could be used by wildlife management agencies to re-populate areas in Arizona where they have become rare or disappeared completely.
The riparian water feature designed and built by Arizona Alternative Building Systems LLC.

Click on the links below to see video of the waterfall feature before and after the frogs took up housekeeping.You can listen to their distinct calls here as well.

"Frog-cam," Fall 2011
( see frogs feeding on crickets)

NEW : Frog Calls
Every species of frog has a distinct call used by the male to attract and court a female of the same species during spawning. Unlike most frogs and toads that call from the edge of ponds, the Chiricahua leopard frog is somewhat unusual in that often the male calls while completely submerged under water. Call #1 was recorded from a Chiricahua leopard frog in southeastern Arizona and Call #2 was recorded from a Chiricahua leopard frog in northern Arizona. (mp3 recordings provided by Arizona Game and Fish Department)

• Call #1 (SE Arizona)
  
• Call #2 (N Arizona)

Waterfall and Pond Vide
(before adding fish and frogs)

UPDATE: June, 2011

Over 100 frogs and tadpoles, whose habitat was threatened by the Monument Fire that scorched large swaths of southeastern Arizona in June, were transplanted from a pond in Hereford to a temporary home in GCC's riparian habitat. While GCC had designed the habitat for just such a colony of Chiricahua Leopard Frogs, the biology department had not yet introduced any frogs. Thus GCC's pond was available as a temporary refuge for these displaced animals.

The frogs were taken from their natural habitat just before the summer rains filled their pond with soil. A lack of vegetation in the surrounding fire damaged areas made the ground unstable and easily washed away by the flood waters.

The frogs will probably remain at GCC at least through the summer. Click the following links for more in-depth coverage by azcentral.com and Cronkite News Check back for more photos and video.