This year was the seventh year of field work for this nationwide project in Region 3. To date, Region 3 has sampled frogs at 17 refuges/wetland management districts.

Sampling consists of collecting frogs from a minimum of two different sites per refuge and examining the frogs for gross abnormalities. Additional diagnostic work, including parasitological evaluations, histological analysis and radiography are performed on abnormal specimens.

In 2000, 2001, and 2002, abnormal frogs were sent to the USGS’s National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, for radiograph analysis. Frogs from 2003 through the present will be radiographed by Mike Lannoo from the Muncie Center for Medical Education at Ball State University. 

Starting in 2003, a number of abnormal frogs from various refuges were sent to the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse for parasitological analysis.  Each refuge is sampled at least two years or longer, depending on the incidence of abnormalities. 

The Bloomington Field Office, with assistance from the East Lansing Field Office, coordinates the project for Region 3.  Staff, volunteers and interns from each participating refuge also provided valuable support. Through this collaborative effort, over 1,100 amphibians from 8 refuges were collected and examined this summer.

This season monitoring was attempted at Muscatatuck NWR (Indiana), Crab Orchard NWR (Illinois), Mingo NWR (Missouri), Shiawassee NWR (Michigan), Upper Mississippi River NW&FR- McGregor District (Iowa), Big Oaks NWR (Indiana),  Minnesota Valley NWR (Minnesota), Squaw Creek NWR (Missouri), Two Rivers NWR (Illinois) and Seney NWR (Michigan).