MISSISSIPPI GOPHER FROG, Photo Credit: Mark Bailey | SCIENTIFIC NAME: Lithobates capito (Le Conte)
MONTGOMERY-Alabama is the only state that is home to two species of gopher frogs – the Dusky (MS) Gopher Frog (Lithobates sevosous) and Gopher Frog (L. capito). The Dusky Gopher Frog is one of the most endangered frogs in the United States, listed as federally Endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 2001, and is found in Mobile, Washington and Choctaw counties of AL. The Gopher Frog lives in the Gulf Coastal Plain region of south Alabama and has been petitioned for federal listing, which is currently under review by the USFWS.
Both species are similar in appearance and habitat requirements. Habitats include both
aquatic and terrestrial types. Aquatic habitat is used for breeding and consists of small depressional ponds that are rain filled and usually dry out once or twice a year resulting in a fishless pond. These treeless ponds have an abundance of grasses in them. Gopher frogs will attach their egg masses to the vegetation, and developing tadpoles eat the vegetation as they grow. Terrestrial habitat consists of fire maintained, open canopy longleaf pine uplands or other open pine habitats. There they live in underground refugia such as gopher tortoise burrows, stump holes or small mammal burrows until breeding season.
Breeding usually occurs December through April but can begin as early as October after large weather events like a hurricane. Adult Gopher Frogs move from the uplands to the breeding ponds and have been shown to travel long distances, up to 3 miles one way. After breeding, adult frogs navigate back to the uplands usually to the same refugia they came from.
GOPHER FROG, Photo Credit: Stephen Richter SCIENTIFIC NAME: Lithobates sevosus (Goin and Netting)
Tadpoles develop over 3-4 months and transformation occurs May through July when juveniles exit the pond and make their way to the uplands. When winter rolls around, the process of migration to breeding habitat begins again.
Gopher Frogs like other amphibians face many threats. These threats include development and habitat fragmentation, disease, drought and groundwater draw down, lack of underground refugia like gopher tortoise burrows and stump holes, and inadequate management of habitat. The use of prescribed fire is critical to maintaining this species on the landscape and it must be applied with forethought to seasonality so that you do not inadvertently wipe out adult Gopher Frogs as they are moving to breeding ponds, December through April. If you have Gopher Frogs on your property it is best to burn May through November. Although summer fires could negatively impact juveniles as they leave the ponds, the benefit of summer fire (maintaining open canopy ponds and avoiding adult mortality) to the overall health of the Gopher Frog population is far greater than the occasional loss of juveniles, which already experience a high rate of natural mortality.
To learn more about the Dusky Gopher Frog or Gopher Frog and how you can help conserve these species visit our Watchable Wildlife website or contact Ericha.Shelton-Nix@dcnr.
Media Release/Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
