When you think of grasslands, are frogs and toads the first thing you think of? Probably not. In all likelihood, they aren’t anywhere close to the first things you think about. However, grasslands and grassland-related ecosystems are home to approximately 40 species of frogs and toads in the Southeast.

Crawfish frog — The crawfish frog can be found in wet meadows and similar habitats in Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. It requires the burrows of grassland crayfish as hibernating habitat, and thus is dependent on the existence of wet grassland habitat. Photo credit: John Williams, CC-BY-NC

Some of these frogs and toads, like the American toad (Anaxyrus americanus) and the green frog (Lithobates clamitans), use a wide variety of habitats. These generalist species are just as likely to be found in a wet grassland or prairie as they are in forested areas. Other species, such as Blanchard's cricket frog (Acris blanchardi), pine barrens treefrog (Dryophytes andersonii), and crawfish frog (Lithobates areolatus) are highly dependent on grassland ecosystems.

Four frog and toad species – gopher frog (Lithobates capito), Atlantic Coast leopard frog (Lithobates kauffeldi), Florida bog frog (Lithobates okaloosae), and Illinois chorus frog (Pseudacris illinoensis) – that rely on Southeastern grassland ecosystems are globally vulnerable or imperiled. A fifth species, the dusky gopher frog (Lithobates sevosus), is critically imperiled at a global level. Habitat reduction and loss of open areas are cited as part of the reason for the decline in all of these species.

Multiple other species appear to be doing fine at a global level, but are considered threatened or declining in some of the states where they are found. Sometimes the reasons for those declines aren’t entirely clear, and researchers are still trying to determine what is happening. In other cases, habitat loss is known to be at least part of the reason for the species’ decline within that state. Preserving and conserving our Southeastern grasslands, not only protects the plants that rely on those ecosystems, but also all of the animals and other organisms that live there, including frogs and toads.