Diet of Dendropsophus molitor (Anura: Hylidae) in a High-Andean agricultural ecosystem, Colombia

Abstract

Dendropsophus molitor is a generalist frog that makes optimal use of resources offered by highly transformed Andean ecosystems. Despite being one of the most researched amphibian species in Colombia, aspects of its diet as an indication of its trophic niche have not yet been evaluated. For this reason, we evaluated the diet of D. molitor, with interpretations of dietary composition to address this dimension of the niche. We chose an Andean agricultural system and in it we selected four jagüeyes (water-filled ditches) and carried out samplings between July and November 2017. We collected 32 individual frogs, extracted their stomach contents and analyzed the composition, diversity, relative importance of the prey and the amplitude of the trophic niche. Additionally, from a network analysis, we evaluated the interactions of the species with its prey. We obtained records of 69 prey, distributed in 29 categories; the prey with the highest frequency were Bibionidae1 with seven individuals, followed by Tipulidae1 and Tipulidae2 with six, which are equivalent to those of greater relative importance. The trophic niche was characterized as wide (Levins’ B = 0.7) and the interactions had a connectivity of 0.065, a link coefficient of 0.930 and a link density of 273.8, represented by a wide range of interactions with prey. The characterization of the diet and the trophic niche of D. molitor shows the broad use of resources consistent with its already documented generalist condition. The diversity of the diet together with the breadth could represent advantages for establishing large and healthy populations in transformed environments in the high mountains of the Andes.