Abstract
As human-modified landscape and climate changes proliferate, maintaining
biodiversity and understanding the function and quality of available
habitat is imperative. As Anurans (frogs/toads) can be indicator species
of habitat quality and ecosystem productivity, studying the Anuran
community in a mixed-land use region provides an opportunity to better
understand the relationship between species and landscape modification.
Certain species, such as Pseudacris crucifer, can also be utilized as
indicator species. We explored this relationship by assessing the
effects of spatial and temporal heterogeneity on the presence of Anurans
across an urbanization gradient. Within the Toledo Metropolitan Area,
including the biodiversity hotspot Oak Openings Region, we surveyed 67
different wetlands (N=1800) over three years. There was a difference in
community assemblage between rural and suburban/urban habitats driven by
human-modification (impervious surface), composition (landcover type)
and productivity (e.g., NDVI). The differences in spatial structure but
lack of differences in temporal variables among sites suggest spatial
factors explain these discrepancies. Areas with more impervious surface,
lower amounts of swamp forest, and lower NDVI had fewer species, lower
average species per survey, and lower relative abundance of Anuran
species. Utilizing Generalized Linear Mixed Modeling, we found that P.
crucifer relative abundance and greater richness were the best
predictors of ecosystem productivity. Our research demonstrates the
value of non-invasive Anuran call surveys to assess ecosystem
productivity and species richness on a large scale, while also offering
a method to evaluate conservation efforts internationally. This scalable
approach can be applied anywhere with sufficient environmental data, and
we recommend utilizing Anurans as indicator taxa for understanding
ecosystem function, especially in human-modified landscapes.