Frogs: Tropical hope in a time of darkness – Rob Puschendorf

Wednesday 12th October 2022 3:00PM – 3:00PM
Location/Venue: Parish Church Sidmouth EX10 8LG

I will take you on a personal journey, to the Costa Rica of my childhood, how I became a frog biologist, how I lost them, and how I found some after they were thought to be extinct.

We are constantly bombarded by bad news. As we emerge from a pandemic and confront an ever-changing world it is easy to lose hope. The how and why, let’s say for now, climate change and emerging infectious disease were key players, and I will explain more when we meet. More importantly I want to tell you the story of the survivors, how there is hope, and how we can engage in this healing process our planet so desperately needs. I will focus mostly on the tropics but hopefully you will see some of these lessons translating into your own backyard and your local environment.

Rob Puschendorf was born and raised in Costa Rica, where he did an undergraduate degree in Agriculture and a master’s degree in Zoology. He then spent a decade in Australia working on his PhD and subsequent fellowship on emerging infectious disease, climate change and amphibian declines. These days he’s a lecturer in conservation biology at the university of Plymouth and a technical advisor to the Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund.