Frogs & Toads of the Southeast - (Wormsloe Foundation Nature Books) by Mike Dorcas & Whit Gibbons (Paperback)

About the Book

More than forty native and introduced species of frogs and toads of the southeastern United States are represented in two hundred fifty color photos, forty-five distribution maps, and chapters identification, vocalizations, reproduction, and global diversity.

Book Synopsis

With more than forty native and introduced species of frogs and toads occurring in the southeastern United States, the region represents the heart of frog and toad diversity in the country. Renowned herpetologists Mike Dorcas and Whit Gibbons provide us with the most comprehensive and authoritative, yet accessible and fun-to-read, guide to these sometimes wet, sometimes warty wonders of nature.

Dorcas and Gibbons enumerate the distinguishing characteristics of frogs and toads, including how they are different from other amphibians and the differences between a frog and a toad. Also discussed are the morphology of frogs and toads, the main groups to be found in the Southeast, and their habitats. Individual species accounts contain a physical description of the species plus information about distribution and habitat, behavior and activity, food and feeding, predators and defense, calls and vocalizations, reproduction and description of eggs and tadpoles, and conservation. Accompanying each account are photographs illustrating typical adults and variations and distribution maps for the Southeast and the United States.

Given the recent worldwide decline in amphibian populations and increasing scientific and popular concern for what these declines mean for all other organisms, Frogs and Toads of the Southeast will appeal to people of all ages and levels of knowledge interested in natural history and conservation. The guide will help foster the growing interest in frogs and toads as well as cultivate a desire to protect and conserve these fascinating amphibians and their habitats.

Features: Conservation-oriented approachApproximately 250 color photographsApproximately 45 distribution mapsClear description and photographs of each species in both tadpole and adult stagesChapters on identification, vocalizations, reproduction, global diversity (including remarkable species such as the gastric brooding frog, poison dart frogs, and saltwater frogs), and introduced speciesA selection of frog and toad vocalizations at www.ugapress.org/FrogsAndToads

Review Quotes

[An] exquisite book . . . on the herpetofauna of the southeastern United States. . . . High-quality, clearly written, with an attractive layout. . . . Has solid introductory information, detailed species descriptions, excellent range maps and color photographs, line drawings showing defining features, and a strong conservation message. There is an explanation as to how to use the species accounts which will be of value to the lay reader.

--Herpetological Review

Good books provide fresh insight each time you pick them up. This is clearly true for the volume.

--Southeastern Biology

About the Author

Mike Dorcas (Author)
MIKE DORCAS is a herpetologist and author of numerous books, including Invasive Pythons in the United States (coauthored with John D. Willson), and Snakes of the Southeast and Frogs and Toads of the Southeast (coauthored with Whit Gibbons).

Whit Gibbons (Author)
WHIT GIBBONS is a professor emeritus of ecology at the University of Georgia and author or coauthor of several books on herpetology and ecology, including Keeping All the Pieces, Snakes of the Southeast, Revised Edition, Frogs and Toads of the Southeast, Lizards and Crocodiles of the Southeast, Turtles of the Southeast, and Salamanders of the Southeast (all Georgia).