Frogs of the forest

Babatana Rainforest Conservation Area, Solomon Islands

By Nakau

May 22^nd, 2023

Rainforests of the Solomon Islands are a frog's paradise. Wet, dark and remote, they can hide out in the mud, leaf litter and streams living their best frog life relatively undisturbed.

Nakau commissioned a Solomon Islands-based ecologist and photographer, Douglas Jr Pikacha, to document the biodiversity of the Babatana Rainforest Conservation Area on Choiseul Island. He spent time in the Protected Area belonging to the Sirebe Tribe, searching for some of the 21 recorded frog species that call this rainforest home.

Here are some of the beauties he found.

Sirebe Forest Rangers accompanied Douglas over three days, showing him where best to locate frogs.

"It wasn’t hard to come across them, especially within the pristine environment of the Sirebe Protected Area," says Douglas. "As soon as dusk fell over our campsite near the Kolombangara River, a chorus of frog calls greeted us from every direction."

"Because frogs are nocturnal, the best time to look for them is early evening to around midnight when they are most active. They love to come out if it is raining as well."

Douglas explains it is easy to tell which species are present by listening to their specific calls.

"On our first night, I could distinguish the ‘puppy like’ calls of Cornufer guentheri and the squeaking call of Cornufer desticans, plus the calls of the ever present Cornufer weberi and Cornufer solomonis," he says.

"However it was our second night out frogging that we came across some unique frogs. We were fortunate to stumble upon Cornufer acrochordus (below) a small ground frog restricted to only three islands in the Solomon’s archipelago (Bougainville, Choiseul, Isabel). We also came across an individual Litoria Lutea, a tree frog which my favourite frog to photograph."

"Other frogs we came across within Sirebe Protected Area included Litoria thesaurensis and Cornufer vertebralis, the later being one of the smallest frog species to occur within the Solomon’s. We also came across stream frogs such as Cornufer guppyi and Cornufer bufoniformis which are two of the largest and heaviest frog species within the archipelago."

Many frogs have adapted to blend into their environment, like the rare Bougainville wrinkled ground frog (Cornufer acrochordus) that is especially hard to spot in the muddy forest floor. Or the Solomon Island eyelash frog (Cornufer guentheri) that resembles the formation of a fallen and decaying leaf, including all the colour variations from golden to green, reds and browns.

Like amphibians all around the globe, the frogs of Babatana contribute to a healthy forest environment and food system by feeding on insects and other invertebrates. And by providing larger animals, like snakes and monitors, with a food source.

"Frogs are also very good indicators of ecosystem health, because they can be sensitive to environmental change," says Douglas. "If the environment is destroyed, such as where there is logging, they can be the first to be affected due to increased exposure to sunlight and a hotter climate."

Water frogs, like the Giant webbed frog (Cornufer guppyi) are also indicators of healthy creeks and rivers that are free from logging sediment, because these frogs can only survive in waterways that are clean.

The western end of Solomon Islands, including Choiseul, has some of the highest frog diversities outside of Papua New Guinea.

"One can find more frog species within this very small Protected Area on Choiseul than within the entire countries of Vanuatu or Fiji combined," explains Douglas — many are endemic to the Solomon Islands.

"To some people frogs might not be seen as important. However we understand the contribution of frogs to the overall biodiversity of an ecosystem. It is essential we continue to support conservation efforts such as Sirebe, because the biodiversity found here is priceless."

The Sirebe Protected Area is part of the Babatana Rainforest Conservation Project. It is a community-owned project with technical support from local partner NRDF and Nakau.