Everyone has their limits: reproductive mode drives amphibian responses to land use in coastal areas

Abstract

Small wetlands are strongly bound to surrounding terrestrial habitats, so understanding their suitability after conversion to human land uses is critically important to produce an ecologically centred planning for amphibian species. Here, we explored how responses of amphibian assemblage to habitat conversion were influenced by reproductive modes in freshwater coastal wetlands in southern Brazil. We also assessed whether species from different biomes are affected in different ways by land conversion. Using data from tadpole assemblages in a transition zone between Atlantic Forest and Pampa, we tested the hypothesis that aquatic modes would be more affected by habitat conversion than are foam-nest species. Overall, quantitative data were influenced by the percentage of crop area, whereas assemblage structure derived from presence–absence data was associated with biome type. Species with aquatic egg-laying were influenced by the percentage of crop area, and many species were more abundant in ponds surrounded by up to 15% crop area in a 1000-m radius. However, foam-nest species were not influenced by any variable investigated (crops, planted pastures, urban areas and biome). This study has highlighted that agricultural conversion poses environmental filters to amphibian communities, selecting species according to some traits (adult reproductive strategies and tadpole plasticity).

Functional traits drive tadpole responses to land use in coastal areas

“…reforestation play a fundamental role in amphibian species loss and community structure segregation in southern Brazil (Machado et al, 2012;Moreira et al, 2021;Saccol et al, 2017Saccol et al, , 2022. At least part of the results observed here might echo preferred environmental conditions for breeding.…”

“…As in most near-shore habitats across the globe, Brazilian coastal wetlands are experiencing substantial urban and agricultural expansion. Such land use intensification is already affecting the morphology of some species and how amphibian assemblages are structured (Boelter et al, 2022;Moreira et al, 2021).…”

Using topsoil translocation from natural wetlands to restore rice field systems

“…Although foodstuffs and other provisioning services are well perceived by human populations, essential regulating services associated to wetlands, such as water purification or climate regulation, are not often recognized by general public and policy-makers. Over the past decades, crops replaced substantial areas of native wetlands, leading to biodiversity erosion and changes in water quality (Schiesari & Corrêa 2016;Stenert et al 2018;Moreira et al 2021). Brazil currently ranks among the top crop producers in the world, with large cultivated areas of soybean, sugarcane, and rice (FAOSTAT 2020).…”

“…Even so, rice fields are considered important supplementary habitats for natural wetlands in farmland landscapes worldwide (Elphick & Oring 2003;Stenert et al 2009;Machado & Maltchik 2010;Maltchik et al 2017;Koshida & Katayama 2018). Life history traits, mainly related to dispersion and reproduction, are particularly relevant to determine which species will persist in agricultural areas ( Avila et al 2015;Moreira et al 2016Moreira et al , 2021Pinceel et al 2016). Consequently, enhancing larval recruitment of freshwater organisms would play an important role in accelerating the restoration of degraded wetlands.…”

A meta‐analysis of the effects of fragmentation on the megadiverse herpetofauna of Brazil

“…These ecosystems have been dramatically altered by anthropogenic actions, with increased agribusiness expansion in the last 30 years (Lapola et al, 2014; Overbeck et al, 2015; Strassburg et al, 2017). Such expansion of agricultural frontiers jeopardizes the future herpetofaunal communities in Brazil, with many known examples of short‐ and long‐term negative effects associated with fragmentation following land conversion (Almeida‐Gomes & Rocha, 2014; Dixo & Martins, 2008; Moreira et al, 2020; Ribeiro et al, 2017). However, geographic and taxonomic biases are prevalent issues in fragmentation research in Brazil, an unevenly sampled country (Teixido et al, 2020).…”