Natterjack Toad Conservation

Project overview

This project is focused on the conservation ecology of the Natterjack Toad in County Kerry South West Ireland. The project began in 2004 as a monitoring program to quantify the ecological status of Natterjack toads in Ireland. Since then our work has continued, funded by a range of different bodies including the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Heritage Council in Ireland, and the Irish Research Council. The work has quantified the demography of the toads at a range of breeding sites throughout the South West. We have undertaken remedial habitat restoration projects, pond clearance and construction, assessments of population genetic structure and studies to quantify whether toads can be found using eDNA techniques.

Demography

Natterjack toads hibernate over the winter and emerge in the early spring when they begin to feed and aggregate at breeding ponds. In the republic of Ireland Natterjack Toads breeding season starts in April and continues until the end of July. Male toads aggregate on ponds, whilst females visit to lay egg strings over a four month period. We quantify adult female breeding population size by counting the total number of egg strings laid in breeding ponds. It takes approximately 11 days for eggs to hatch depending on temperature and so all breeding ponds are visited every 9-10 days to ensure that all egg strings are counted. A wide range of environmental parameters are recorded and understandably this takes a lot of coordination and effort - there are now 139 known breeding ponds.

Restoration and conservation

In 2006 in collaboration with the Herpetological Conservation Trust from the UK we undertook a range of remedial conservation works at toad breeding ponds. Subsequently, the National Parks and Wildlife Service in Ireland introduced an agri-environmental toad pond scheme that led to the construction of 91 new breeding ponds - representing a 200% increase in the availability of breeding habitat. Our ongoing work now incorporates the study of these new ponds and their uptake by toads for breeding purposes.

Population genetics

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