Long-term observation of amphibian populations inhabiting urban and forested areas in Yekaterinburg, Russia

Abstract

This article presents data derived from a 36 year-long uninterrupted observational study of amphibian populations living in the city and vicinity of Yekaterinburg, Russia. This area is inhabited by six amphibian species. Based on a degree of anthropogenic transformation, the urban territory is divided into five highly mosaic zones characterized by vegetation, temperature, and a distinctive water pollution profile. Population data is presented year-by-year for the number of animals, sex ratio, and species-specific fecundity including the number and quality of spawns for the following amphibian species: Salamandrella keyserligii, Rana arvalis, R. temporaria, Lissotriton vulgaris, and Pelophylax ridibundus. These data provide an excellent opportunity to assess an urban environment from an animal population-wide perspective, as well as revealing the forces driving animal adaptation to the anthropogenic transformation of habitats.

Distant but similar: Simultaneous drop in the abundance of three independent amphibian communities

“…Overall, although for none of the species this was significant (Table 1), the number of juveniles decreased by 31.7% between 2018 and 2020, accentuating an ongoing negative trend that started decades ago (Vershinin et al, 2015). This was particularly evident with the urodeles L. vulgaris and S. keyserlingii that decreased by 38.2% and 84.2%, respectively.…”

“…We conducted annual counts of amphibian egg clutches and metamorphosed juveniles every summer between 2018 and 2020, as part of a long‐lasting monitoring program (Vershinin et al, 2015). Direct counts of egg clutches started at the end of April and were implemented for the following 2 weeks.…”

Native and invasive alien anuran species in urbanized areas in Davao City, Philippines, with preliminary study of feeding biology

“…The landscape shifts from rural to urban setting leads to habitat loss as well as change in the local and regional climate affecting most fauna in the area [1]. Since amphibians are sensitive to environmental and ecological changes [1], the negative impact of the changes in the environment caused by urbanization, is more effective compared to other vertebrate groups [2]. However, generalist's anurans, such as invasive alien species, can still thrive in urban areas [3] especially with the presence of suitable habitats, yet little is known about their life histories in urban cities.…”

New Occurrences of Anomalous Specimens of Anuran Amphibians in Northwest Upper Poochye

“…They were caught with pitfall traps on land and with nets in the water [8]. We took as our framework the classification of amphibian anomalies proposed by Nekrasova [9] and Vershinin [10]. Genetic typing of the water frogs to determine whether their mitochondrial and nuclear DNA haplotypes fell into the "Western" or "Eastern" forms was performed with the procedure used by Zaks and collaborators [11].…”