DOC

Amanda Haigh is the Northern Regional Frog Ecologist for the Department of Conservation and leader for the Native Frog Recovery Group.  Her job as the Frog Ecologist encompasses a variety of projects.  She is in charge of coordinating native frog distribution surveys on the North Island.  She also provides technical advice, develops and implements native frog monitoring programmes, coordinates native frog disease surveys, oversees and provides advice to the Archey’s frog and Hochsetter’s frog captive management programmes, and coordinates national research priorities identified by the native frog recovery group. In addition to this, Amanda provides technical advice about frog conservation management projects and assesses DOC permit and resource management applications directly related to frog conservation.  She is also involved in the
following projects to help understand threats and agents
of decline for native frogs:

• Impact of exotic forestry on Hochsetter’s frog
• Student project – effects of predator control on Hochstetter’s frog
• Student project – impact of pigs on native frogs (looking for student!).

Lisa Daglish is a ranger for the Department of Conservation.  She first came into contact with NZ native frogs on Maud Island in 2002.  Phil Bishop hired her to work on a research project attempting to morphometrically sex the Maud Island Frog.  The project was unsuccessful but she was hooked and has been working with frogs on and off ever since.  All her initial frog experience was in the Marlborough Sounds, working with both Maud and Stephens Island frogs on a range of beautiful islands.  She has since moved on and is currently based in the central North Island where she works for the Department of Conservation managing Archey's Frog.  She is running a research by management project to assess the affects of rodent control on native frog populations.  The population is intensively monitored with capture-recapture methods using the frogs natural markings since the Archey's Frogs have a stunning range of markings and colouration.

Dr Mandy Tocher

Dr Mandy Tocher became enthralled with amphibians whilst completing a PhD at the University of Canterbury.  For this research, over 60 species of Amazonian rain-forest frogs were studied to determine their response to deforestation, forest fragmentation and edge effects.

Although, fascinating, tropical amphibians were a stepping stone to a more fulfilling research career working on New Zealand’s’ native frog species for DOC.

During an 11-year career with the DOC, including long-standing membership of the Native Frog Recovery group, research interests have focussed on translocation methodologies, and monitoring protocols.

This research has culminated in numerous conservation based publications including a description of a novel technique using population modelling tools to determine the number of frogs from a donor population that could be “safely” removed for translocation (safe in terms of minimising extinction risk of donor population whilst maximising population growth in the a new population).

Dr Tocher is currently assisting in the writing of the new Leiopelma spp. Recovery Plan and oversees population monitoring data administration for Marlborough Sounds Islands (with the exception of Maud Island).



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