Papua New Guinea may be one of the last refuges for amphibians as a fungal disease decimates populations worldwide, a Queensland academic believes.

James Cook University Research Fellow Dr Deborah Bower said Australia had suffered one of the world's worst declines in frog populations.

Researchers have been imploring governments to ramp up biosecurity measures in New Guinea so populations of amphibians do not end up critically endangered like the southern corroboree frog. Credit:Lorinda Taylor/Taronga Zoo

The most popular theory suggests the disease, caused by the chytrid fungus, is spread through the movement of frogs, water and soil.

"This is a fungus that has spread throughout most of the world, but because New Guinea is so isolated and has so little imports, we think that it hasn't actually gotten onto the island of New Guinea yet," Dr Bower said.