Individualistic Population Responses of Five Frog Species in Two Changing Tropical Environments over Time

Ryan, Mason J.; Fuller, Michael M.; Scott, Norman J.; Cook, Joseph A.; Poe, Steven; Cháves, Gerardo; Bolaños, Federico

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0098351

Cited by 11 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Despite previous studies finding terrestrial tropical frog populations to be relatively stable (e.g., Marsh 2001, Green 2003, we predicted changes in community structure and relative abundance due to the severity of this La Niña event, and a slow recovery to pre La-Niña structure. (Ryan et al 2014). The leaf litter frog community at LCBS consists of four direct-developing species-Craugastor crassidigitus, C. stejnegerianus, Pristimantis cruentus, and P. ridens-that rely on the leaf litter habitat for egg laying, feeding, and v www.esajournals.org daily refuge for all or most of their lives (Scott 1976, Ryan et al 2014.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Ryan et al 2014). The leaf litter frog community at LCBS consists of four direct-developing species-Craugastor crassidigitus, C. stejnegerianus, Pristimantis cruentus, and P. ridens-that rely on the leaf litter habitat for egg laying, feeding, and v www.esajournals.org daily refuge for all or most of their lives (Scott 1976, Ryan et al 2014.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Too wet for frogs: changes in a tropical leaf litter community coincide with La Niña

et al. 2015

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Abstract. Extreme climatic events such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation profoundly affect many plants and animals, including amphibians, which are strongly negatively affected by drought conditions. How amphibians respond to exceptionally high precipitation as observed in La Niña events, however, remains unclear. We document the correlation between the exceedingly wet 2010-2012 La Niña and community-level changes in a leaf litter frog assemblage in Costa Rica. Relative abundances of species shifted, diversity and plot occupancy decreased, and community composition became homogenized with the onset of La Niña. These aspects remained altered for over 20 months but rebounded to pre-La Niña levels after approximately 12 months. We hypothesize that complex ecological cascades associated with excess moisture caused short-term declines in abundances of species and associated changes in community structure. If additional stressors such as disease or habitat loss are not co-occurring, frog communities can rapidly recover to pre-disturbance levels following severe climatic events.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Too wet for frogs: changes in a tropical leaf litter community coincide with La Niña

et al. 2015

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“…In Costa Rica, FV3 has been found associated with a variety of species of amphibians at La Selva Biological Station, a lowland Caribbean site, but no dead and dying amphibians have been recorded there during these studies (Whitfield et al ., , ). Despite the absence of observations of mortality in amphibian and reptile populations at La Selva there has been shown to be a long trend of decline between 1970 and 2005 (Whitfield et al ., ), similar to observations of lowland populations on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica (Ryan et al ., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Cryptic diversity and ranavirus infection of a critically endangered Neotropical frog before and after population collapse

Puschendorf

Wallace

Chavarría

et al. 2019

Animal Conservation

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Mesoamerican amphibian declines in apparently pristine and protected habitats have been severe, especially at elevations above 500 m sea level and have been linked to emerging diseases and a changing climate. The Craugastor punctariolus species series of direct developing frogs is endemic to the region and used to be comprised of 33 species, seven of which have known populations at present. One of these, C. ranoides, endemic to southern Nicaragua and Costa Rica, was historically found in cloud forest sites of Area de Conservaci on Guanacaste (ACG) in north-west Costa Rica and extended into dry forest sites 20 km distant. Here, C. ranoides declined and disappeared from high elevation sites between the mid-1980s and early 1990s, but populations persisted in the lowland dry forest. We compared the genetic richness and ranavirus infection status of C. ranoides from extant dry forest populations to historic museum specimens of now extinct ACG cloud forest populations using DNA sequence diversity at two mitochondrial loci and molecular screening for ranavirus. Extant dry forest populations of C. ranoides formed a monophyletic group which included historic specimens sampled at cloud forest sites. However, the extirpated ACG cloud forest population contained additional diversity: samples formed a divergent clade with unknown spatial distribution. Ranavirus was detected in both current and museum samples of C. ranoides and sequences from a 267-nucleotide region of the major capsid protein gene shared 100% sequence identity with one another and with Frog virus 3. Our findings document cryptic diversity within an endangered species that has demonstrated no recovery in cloud forests and raises questions about Ranavirus and its potential link to the amphibian declines in this system. The presence of the same C. ranoides clade within present day and historical samples suggests a potential for effective translocation and repopulation of extirpated cloud forest populations.

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“…Biological communities are experiencing rapid changes in Neotropical ecosystems driven by species local extinction and colonization of new sites, resulting by the interaction and additive effects of factors such as climate change, emerging diseases and habitat degradation; yet there is emerging evidence of adaptive potential of species to respond to environmental change (Mendelson et al, 2004;Colwell, Brehm, Cardelús, Gilman, & Longino, 2008;Bickford, Howard, Ng, & Sheridan, 2010;Ryan et al, 2014;Acosta-Chaves & Cossel, 2016;Lister & García, 2018;Voyles et al, 2018). The way in which biological communities change over time due to these and other anthropogenic and natural pressures has become a relevant issue in community ecology (Ryan et al, 2014;Lister & García, 2018;Voyles et al, 2018). Costa Rican amphibians provide an interesting model to study these patterns due to the population decline that several species had suffered during the last decades (Pounds & Crump, 1994;Lips, 1998, Lips et al, 2006Whitfield et al, 2007;Ryan et al, 2014;Acosta-Chaves, Bolaños, Spínola, & Chaves, 2016).…”

Section: Shifts In the Diversity Of An Amphibian Community From A Prementioning

confidence: 99%

Shifts in the diversity of an amphibian community from a premontane forest of San Ramón, Costa Rica

Acosta-Chaves

Madrigal-Elizondo

Cháves

et al. 2019

RBT

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Biological communities are experiencing rapid shifts of composition in Neotropical ecosystems due to several factors causing population declines. However, emerging evidence has provided insights on the adaptive potential of multiple species to respond to illnesses and environmental pressures. In Costa Rica, the decline of amphibian populations is a remarkable example of these changes. Here we provide evidence of variation in the amphibian richness of a premontane forest of San Ramón (Costa Rica) across a ~30 year period. We also quantified changes in the composition and abundance of the leaf-litter frog community occurring in the same premontane forest, by comparing diversity data with a difference of ~18 years. We evaluated the similarity of species richness from 1980s to 2010s based on several sources, and the dissimilarity of species diversity in the site comparing 28 standardized surveys from 1994-1995 and 2011-2012. We compared the relative abundance of some frogs that inhabit the leaf-litter layer between these same periods. Our results show that there is more similarity in amphibian richness between 1980s and 2010s (~ 52 %) than between 1980s and 1990s (~ 40 %). The richness of leaf-litter anurans was ~ 65 % similar between 1990s and 2010s. The diversity of leaf-litter anuran was clearly different between 1994-1995 and 2011-2012, and it was clustered among those periods. We determined that the amphibian community in this premontane forest drastically changed: many species have disappeared, or gradually declined through the decades (e.g. Pristimantis ridens, P. cruentus, Craugastor bransfordii) as in other well studied localities of Costa Rica, while some few species flourished after being almost absent from the site in the 1990s (e.g. Craugastor crassidigitus, Lithobates warszewistchii). Currently dominant species such as C. crassidigitus would be using developed resistance against Bd-fungus as an advantage (apparent competition) in the premontane forest where the disease is more virulent than in lowlands. Our analysis supports the hypothesis of individualized responses of anuran populations under distinct site and elevations. We suggest to continue monitoring the amphibian communities of premontane tropical forests to understand how this ecosystem gradually resist and adapts to this catastrophic time of biodiversity loss.

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Individualistic Population Responses of Five Frog Species in Two Changing Tropical Environments over Time

Cited by 11 publications

References 58 publications

Too wet for frogs: changes in a tropical leaf litter community coincide with La Niña

Too wet for frogs: changes in a tropical leaf litter community coincide with La Niña

Cryptic diversity and ranavirus infection of a critically endangered Neotropical frog before and after population collapse

Shifts in the diversity of an amphibian community from a premontane forest of San Ramón, Costa Rica

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