Frog expert makes leap into Korea

Environment

Australia's foremost frog expert has three new books out this year - including one that is written for Korean children.

Associate Professor Mike Tyler, Visiting Research Fellow with the University of Adelaide's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, so far has 23 books on frogs to his name.

Three of those have been released this year.

Field Guide to the Frogs of Australia is a comprehensive guidebook providing concise information about 227 species of native frogs and toads found in Australia, as well as a number of introduced species.

Published by Steve Parish Publishing and CSIRO Publishing, the book is full of colour paintings by Frank Knight, who receives a co-author credit for his artistic work.

"Often the problem with photographs is that they are taken from different angles in a range of different conditions. These gorgeous paintings by Frank Knight are a much more accurate representation of what each frog and toad looks like. And because there can be variations within the one species, we sometimes show different images of the same species to help with identification," Associate Professor Tyler said.

He said the style of the guidebook would be familiar to bird watchers, with maps providing locations of where each species can be found, signature calls made by the frogs, and other details.

While the Field Guide to the Frogs of Australia is aimed at helping people to identify various frog species, another new book is primarily concerned with the biology of frogs.

The fourth edition of Field Guide to Frogs of Western Australia has now been released, co-authored by Paul Doughty from the Western Australian Museum, which is also the book's publisher.

"This is an important book because Western Australia is home to more than 80 of Australia's known frog species," Associate Professor Tyler said.

"That's a significant proportion of the nation's native frog species, and many of these species are found in very remote locations. More species are still being discovered in WA.

"Members of the general public who are interested in frogs will find this book very accessible, but we've also had a lot of interest from mining companies. The ecosystems that support these frogs can be highly fragile and one would hope that the mining companies are paying more attention to such things."

Meanwhile, Associate Professor Tyler's third book of 2009 has been released, this time a children's book written for Korea.

Called It's True!, the book presents a range of interesting facts about frogs, with photographs and cartoon-like illustrations.

"I was approached to write a fun, educational book about frogs for Korea, and this is the result," Associate Professor Tyler said.

"We have made some amazing discoveries about frogs over the years, such as the gastric brooding frog which swallows its fertilised eggs, converting its stomach to a womb and giving birth to fully formed young through its mouth.

"Sadly, we now believe this species of frog to be extinct in Australia, along with about three or four other species."

It's True! is also being translated into Chinese and will be released in China in January.

Associate Professor Tyler is now working on a field guide specific to the frogs of South Australia, as well as another book about the use of frogs in environmental marketing.

Story by David Ellis