This concern is not only for the species themselves but also for the ecosystems on which they depend.
Amphibians are sensitive to many environmental factors.
They breathe through their skin, thus they are susceptible to poor air quality. They spend parts of their lives on land and in water, thus they need clean water and healthy upland habitat to survive. Like many other aquatic organisms that are sensitive to changes in water quality and adjacent land use practices, their populations can serve as an index to environmental quality. Distribution and abundance data are used to detect declining populations in time for researchers to determine causes of declines and work to reverse them. The program relies on volunteers to collect data on amphibian populations.