The survival of a unique frog species that lives in the coastal sand dunes of South Africa and Namibia is under threat from diamond mining, the proposed Boegoebaai Green Hydrogen Project and climate change.
The desert rain frog (Breviceps macrops) has been moved to a higher threat category, from near threatened to vulnerable, on the IUCN’s Red List.
The change in the frog’s conservation status is based on assessments carried out by scientists from various Southern African universities and organizations.
“[The species] has already experienced loss of its habitat from strip mining and these projected impacts don’t bode well for the species and the other unique biodiversity that occurs only in these coastal dune systems,” Jeanne Tarrant, executive director of Anura Africa, which supports amphibian conservation, and regional co-chair of the IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group for Southern Africa, told Mongabay via email.
The desert rain frog grows to just 4 to 6 centimeters (1.6 to 2.4 inches) in length. It’s range is also very small, limited to the white coastal sand dunes of northern South Africa and southern Namibia within 10 to 12 kilometers (6 to 7 miles) of the coast. It survives without a permanent source of freshwater by absorbing moisture from coastal fog and spends most of its life buried beneath moist sand, emerging when conditions are just right.
Scientists identified six distinct habitat locations of the frog within the Succulent Karoo biome, a recognized hotspot for biodiversity, all threatened with mining, energy and infrastructure development.
“The proposed green hydrogen development and its associated infrastructure are most worrying as these will directly impact the desert rain frog’s habitat – it spends most of its life burrowed underground,” Tarrant said.
Opencast diamond mining, which extracts minerals from an open pit in the ground, in the South African part of the frog’s range has already reduced large areas of suitable habitat by removing sand dunes and vegetation that the frogs depend on. Mining companies replace the sand after extraction, but research suggests the vegetation doesn’t naturally recover well enough for the frogs to recolonize the areas.
In the future, climate change and rising temperatures will likely put more pressure on the species by drying out their habitat, Tarrant said.
The IUCN assessors project that over the next 20 years, up to one-third of the frog’s habitat in South Africa and about two-thirds of its habitat in Namibia could be compromised, resulting in a projected population decline of around 20% over the next decade.
Currently, there are no coordinated conservation efforts in place.
“There really needs to be a consolidated effort now, based on this change in status to more threatened, to drive conservation and research action for this species,” Tarrant said.
Researchers have initiated a Green Status assessment of the frog for the IUCN, which evaluates a species’ recovery potential and identifies priority research and conservation actions, she added.
Banner image: The desert rain frog. Image courtesy of Bob Steele via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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