Walking through the rainforest near the Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre in the Temburong rainforest one can sometimes encounter male frogs guarding eggs under leaves or carrying tiny tadpoles on their backs to nearby bodies of water. This comes as a surprise because most frogs just deposit their eggs in streams, ponds, or other water bodies and let the young fend for themselves. The Smooth Guardian Frog (Limnonectes palavanensis), however, is one of only two species in all of Southeast Asia known to care for their young. In an ironic twist, males are the care-givers whereas females provide no care whatsoever. 

Johana Goyes-Vallejos, a PhD candidate from Faculty of Science (FOS), spent her final year in UBD, studying the rare phenomenon in frogs under collaboration with research assistant Alexander Terry from the Odum School of Ecology, Georgia, U.S.A., and supervision of senior lecturer, Professor Dr. Ulmar Grafe from FOS. 

Johana undertook her PhD dissertation research at the Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre (KBFSC), after spending 11 months studying the behaviour of the smooth guardian frog, particularly in its male paternal care. Her research interests include behavioural ecology and evolution: sexual selection, animal communication, mate choice and predation risk in vertebrates, specialising in the ecology of amphibians.

To develop better understanding of the frogs’ behavioural ecology; their mating system and communication strategies, Johana studied their vocal repertoire through recordings and playback experiments in the field, behavioural observations and choice experiments. The data will reveal the selection pressures that have promoted the evolution of their highly-derived behaviours

Home to more than 70 species of amphibians, the smooth guardian frogs of Ulu Temburong National Park is the only known species of its kind to have male parental care behaviour in Brunei. The males of the smooth guardian frog take care of the eggs until they hatch, after which they carry the tadpoles to water where they finish their development.

Johana spent her first two months in the forest doing a pilot study. Subsequent visits to the field station in Temburong consisted of data collection which involved night-time recordings where she sometimes had to locate the frog through sound and other times, often rarely, encountered the species right in front of her.

Returning to the U.S., Johana will be writing up her Ph.D. dissertation and analysing the collected data. Study of this species is an important contribution to the knowledge of the fauna of Borneo and to emphasise the importance of behavioural studies in ecology and conservation.In addition to her research, Johana also teaches undergraduates at her university. In the coming spring semester she will teach herpetology – the study of amphibians and reptiles, to biology undergraduate students.

For its rich biodiversity and strength in environmental research, IBER attracts environmental experts from all over the world to collaborate in environmental studies. As the focal agency for biodiversity and environmental research, IBER places special emphasis on its KBFSC research facility in the heart of the pristine rainforest of Temburong District. IBER’s research focus on both terrestrial and marine biodiversity throughout Brunei Darussalam, as well as interactions between biodiversity and its environment.