Suzanne Lazaroo
6 February 2026: A Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»³öÆ·-led research team has released native green and golden bell frogs back to the ACT for the first time since the 1980s – a hop in the right direction for the local hero species, which also marks a giant leap for amphibians worldwide in the ongoing fight against the deadly chytrid fungus.
The fungus has devastated amphibian populations around the world, with over 500 frog species affected. In Australia, it has impacted over 40 frog species – with seven believed to have gone extinct.
The iconic call of the green and golden bell frog was absent in the bush capital for almost 50 years – until now.
This week, researchers from the University’s Centre for Conservation, Ecology and Genomics (CCEG) released 25 frogs at a special event at Mawson Pond – a major milestone for a four-year project to address the effects of chytrid, led by Associate Professor Simon Clulow and Professor Richard Duncan from the University’s Faculty of Science and Technology, and Senior Lecturer Ben Scheele from the Australian National University (ANU).
“Chytrid is very pervasive and can’t be removed from the environment. So, we needed to find a way for the frogs to co-exist where chytrid is present,” said Associate Professor Clulow, who has studied frogs for 20 years.
The team created landscape interventions as part of the simple, elegant and effective solution.
Perspex pyramid domes cover stacks of bricks to become hotspots or frog ‘saunas’, creating the warm conditions the frogs love – and the fungus decidedly does not. These refuges are in wetlands across the ACT, set next to salted satellite ponds, which also create adverse conditions for the fungus.
The team spent over a year refining their designs and strategy – adding ramps for the frogs to climb, and bunding the earth around the ponds to protect precious frogspawn from invasive and predatory mosquitofish, which can traverse ground via a very shallow layer of water.
“At the same time that we were setting the structures up, we bred the frogs in captivity – at UC and Symbio Wildlife Park – then immunised them against the fungus, before releasing these frogs into wetlands set up with the hotspots,” Associate Professor Clulow said.
The plan is for the frog saunas and spas to help protect the next generations of frogs, which will not be immunised.
More green and golden bell frogs will be released across 15 ACT wetlands in February and March or April of this year.
“This is a great example of research with local impact and global significance,” said Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»³öÆ· Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Michelle Lincoln.
“When you combine expert, passionate scientists, government leadership and support, great partners and enthusiastic community members, meaningful research impact is assured.”
While marking a significant moment for conservation ecology, the release event was also imbued with more than a little emotion – especially when Ngunnawal and Kamilaroi man Richie Allan conducted a special Welcome to Country for the native species.
Joining the research team, partners and volunteers, guests included the ACT Conservator of Flora and Fauna Bren Burkevics, ACT Senator David Pocock, and Associate Professor Will Osborne, who first recorded the green and golden bell frogs’ decline and subsequent disappearance from the ACT, almost 50 years ago.
Community members turned out in force for the first release of the frogs. Some had last heard the distinctive call of the green and golden bell frog in their childhood, and come to welcome back an old friend.
“Hearing stories like these makes me quite emotional, to know the frogs mean so much to so many people,” said Associate Professor Clulow.
“The green and golden bell frog is such a charismatic species, and it has been a privilege to be able to work on this project to return them to the ACT – and to address the larger chytrid fungus problem.
Citizen scientists and community volunteers played a central role in the project from the start, helping to install hotspot structures across ACT wetlands.
Post-release, the team plans to expand community engagement through activities such as reporting frog sightings and monitoring population establishment.
“We’re going to leave the frogs to settle into their new homes for a couple of weeks, but we're going to be listening for them in that time,” said Postdoctoral Research Fellow Jarrod Sopniewski.
“We’ve set up song meters, which take sound recordings for five minutes every hour. And when the frogs are settled in properly, the males should start calling – that really iconic, recognisable sound, like a motorbike revving!”
The project was bolstered by close to $1 million in ARC Discovery Project funding, as well as support from the ACT Government.
Project partners include the ACT Healthy Waterways Program and Office of Nature Conservation under the ACT Government; the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate (EPSDD); the NSW Saving our Species program under the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW); Symbio Wildlife Park; FrogWatch ACT; and ACT Waterwatch.