Weird World of Frogs

Jodi Rowley is the curator of amphibian and reptile conservation biology at the Australian Museum and a conjoint associate professor at The University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney. Rowley's research seeks to uncover and document biodiversity and inform conservation decisions, and she also has a passion for communicating biodiversity conservation. After obtaining a degree in environmental science (honors) at UNSW Sydney, Rowley completed her Ph.D. on rainforest frog ecology and conservation at James Cook University. Rowley has led dozens of expeditions in search of amphibians in Australasia and co-discovered 40 frog species new to science. She is the lead scientist of FrogID, a national citizen science project developed by the Australian Museum that has engaged tens of thousands of people across the continent to collect over 1.4 million records of frogs across Australia. Rowley has co-authored over 160 scientific publications, is a fellow of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (NSW), and co-chair for Australia for the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group. Rowley was named one of “100 Inspiring Australians” by Qantas in 2020, and 2023 Field Leader in Zoology by The Australian’s Research Magazine. A regular presence on radio and TV in Australia, Rowley has been featured in documentaries including "Earthsounds" (Apple TV+, 2024), "Australia’s Wild Odyssey" (ABC TV, 2023) and "Australia's Great Wild North" (2018). She was also invited onto The Drew Barrymore Show (2024), where she appeared live with frogs, discussing frog biology and conservation to a massive global audience. She has one snake and two frog species from Southeast Asia named in her honor.