Every year on March 20, World Frog Day is celebrated to raise awareness about the crisis facing these amphibians. Due to their high sensitivity to environmental changes, frogs are excellent bioindicators. Their decline can reflect the deterioration of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, including water pollution, deforestation, and climate change.
In the Trifinio region, an area shared by Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, lives a unique and little-known frog species: Leptodactylus silvanimbus. Its name, derived from the Latin words silva (forest) and nimbus (cloud), pays tribute to its home in the cloud forests of the Celaque Mountain Range and the Merendón Range in Honduras. It inhabits elevations between 1,470 and 2,000 meters above sea level, in humid environments with water bodies essential for its reproduction.
However, its situation is concerning. Despite conservation and monitoring efforts, it has not been recorded in recent years, creating uncertainty about its current status. Its habitat deep within the forest and its elusive behavior make it extremely difficult to document. For this reason, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed it as Critically Endangered, underscoring the urgency of protecting the ecosystems where it may still survive.
But not all the news is bad. Fortunately, other amphibian species can still be found in the region. Below are some recent records from Honduras and Guatemala:
Frog species recorded in La Moskitia, Honduras. Photos by Manfredo Turcios-Casco / WCS Honduras-Nicaragua
Biological Monitoring and Spectrograms: A Window into the World of Frogs
Biological monitoring is a key tool for studying a region’s biodiversity. Through technologies such as camera traps and bioacoustic recordings, it is possible to closely monitor species without disturbing their natural behavior. Bioacoustics, for example, allows researchers to analyze multiple parameters within spectrograms—such as frequency, duration, and call intensity—all of which are characteristic of each species.
One example of this technique is the record of Smilisca baudinii (Common Mexican Treefrog) at an artificial water trough in Mirador-Río Azul National Park, Guatemala, documented along with its spectrogram by the Department of Biological Research of WCS Guatemala.
Smilisca baudinii (Common Mexican Treefrog) at one of the artificial water troughs in Mirador-Río Azul National Park, and its spectrogram. Record by the Department of Biological Research, WCS Guatemala.
Record by the Department of Biological Research, WCS Guatemala.
The protection of amphibians depends on collaboration among local communities, researchers, and decision-makers to ensure the preservation of these essential ecosystems.
Biological monitoring efforts are carried out under the framework of the Biodiverse Landscapes Fund (BLF), financed by the Government of the United Kingdom and implemented by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and its partners in the region—ranging from the cloud forests of Trifinio to the Moskitia of Honduras and the Maya Forest of Belize and Guatemala.
Text by Mario Jolón, Rony García-Anleu, Manfredo Turcios-Casco, and Claudia Novelo Alpuche.