Amphibians as Bioindicators of the Health of Some Wetlands in Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Ethiopia has a variety of wetlands which provide enormous socioeconomic and environmental values. Most of these wetlands are under severe pressure and degradation. Maintaining the health of wetlands is recognized as crucial for protecting biodiversity, ecosystem function, and human health. In order to properly protect and conserve wetlands, it is essential to collect baseline data and establish monitoring programs which can detect change in the health of the wetland over time. One common method for monitoring includes using bioindicators as amphibians. Materials and Methods: the current study was conducted to assess the health in two areas in Ethiopia, Abijata-Shalla Lakes and Awash National Parks using amphibians as bio-indicators and to predict any changes on the natural environments and resources in the study area. Results: in Abijata area, less species richness, lower total population index and higher fluctuating asymmetry were observed compared to the second area (Hot spring area) which means that it is more threatened.

Spatiotemporal wetland changes and their threats in North Central Ethiopian Highlands

“…Teferi et al (2010) also reported that geographically isolated wetlands near Choke Mountain were converted into farmlands. This shows that the study area was undergoing serious transformation, with the rapid decline of wetland's health (Saber et al, 2017;Scott & Jones, 1995). Particularly, unsustainable activities such as converting wetlands into agricultural and grazing lands were occurring elsewhere in Ethiopia (Amsalu & Addisu, 2014).…”

Hermaphroditism induction of Sub-Lethal Dose of Atrazine and Atrazine-Nitrate on the Egyptian Toad, <i>Sclerophrys Regularis</i>

“…Rather than the observed effect on gonads, atrazine and/or nitrate had a wide range of sever effects concerning growth and body size at metamorphosis [32], genotoxicity [33] or malformations [34], indicating the disrupting action of such chemicals on amphibian development and sexual maturity. Over the years, human activities in agrochemical use have increased causing disturbances to all organisms in the ecosystem either in direct or indirect route, while the high concentrations were detected as well as low concentrations [35]; by this approach the present study can be a good assessment for relevant chronic high exposure.…”

Registro preliminar de la herpetofauna asociada a bosque de galería y a la subcuenca del río Camoa de la Reserva El Caduceo, San Martín, Meta, Colombia

“…De otro lado, se cree que un pequeño porcentaje de las especies observadas está dentro de poblaciones con dinámicas que van en aumento, lo que sugiere una posible recuperación de esta zona a lo largo del tiempo, dado que se sabe que ha atravesado por un proceso de sucesión ecológica que ha permitido una modificación ordenada sobre su entorno físico, el cual ahora está representado por un bosque secundario (Fonseca & Mahecha, 2018). Además, se sabe que la presencia de anfibios es un excelente bioindicador del estado de salud y recuperación de un ecosistema (Houston et al, 2018;Saber et al, 2017), por lo que se ha observado que familias como Hylidae, Hylodidae, Leiuperidae y Bufonidae tienen una eficiencia mayor al 60 % como bioindicadores para dichos estados (Campos et al, 2014).…”