Responses of anuran diversity to wetland characteristics and surrounding landscape in the Southern Andean Yungas, Argentina

GONZALEZ BAFFA TRASCI, NOELIA V.; PEREYRA, LAURA C.; AKMENTINS, MAURICIO S.; VAIRA, MARCOS

AQUATIC CONSERVATION-MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS

JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD

Año: 2020 vol. 30 p. 1437 - 1450

1052-7613

1. Modification and loss of natural habitats caused by human activities are amongthe main drivers of biodiversity decline worldwide. To evaluate how land-usechanges affect species diversity at different spatial scales, amphibians representan excellent group given that their complex life cycle requires both aquatic andterrestrial habitats.2. In this study, the influence of wetland characteristics and surrounding landscapefeatures on richness and functional diversity of anurans was investigated in26 natural wetlands in a human-modified landscape within the Southern AndeanYungas.3. The analysis was performed at two spatial scales: wetland scale (the breedingpond structure) and the surrounding landscape scale. The classification of thelandscape was limited to land uses modified by human activities within concentriccircular buffers (radius = 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, and 1 km) centred on each breeding pond.4. Generalized linear models were applied to investigate the relationship betweenenvironmental variables measured at different scales and anuran species richnessand functional diversity, respectively.5. Pond area best explained the observed variation in both diversity measures, whichis consistent with other studies on anuran diversity in disturbed landscapes. Incontrast to regression models including landscape scale variables only, integratedmodels (which included variables on both scales) highly improved model fit.6. Conservation strategies for anuran species diversity in these altered AndeanYungas forests should include efforts to maintain or restore aquatic habitats(e.g. breeding ponds) placed within suitable landscapes.7. Successful long-term management will require an understanding of relationshipsbetween habitat characteristics at different spatial scales to identify variables thatrelate to species diversity in such heterogeneous habitats.