Water quality limitations for tadpoles of the Wood Frog in the northern Great Plains, Canada

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment Vol. 193; no. 10; p. 636
• Main Author: Donald, David B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.10.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abundance; Amphibians; Amphibiotic species; Aquatic reptiles; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Dissolved solids; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental monitoring; Environmental science; Frogs; Juveniles; Low concentrations; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Occupancy; Parameter identification; Phosphorus; Rana sylvatica; Runoff; Snowmelt; Sodium; Total dissolved solids; Water analysis; Water conservation; Water quality; Water sampling; Wetlands; Wood; Canada; Great Plains; Phosphorus; Chloride; Sodium; Amphibian conservation; Wetlands
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-021-09385-4

Some wetlands in the northern Great Plains support hundreds to thousands of late-stage tadpoles providing important sources of recruitment to the Wood Frog ( Lithobates sylvaticus ) population while many other wetlands produce none. Relationships between water quality and late-stage tadpole abundance were determined to identify the water quality parameters associated with tadpole abundance. Water samples were collected, and late-stage tadpole abundances were assessed once each year in late June for 12 years in 26 wetlands. Catch or abundance was the number of tadpoles captured in 30 min with a dip-net. The catch of tadpoles was variable both among wetlands and over the long-term for individual wetlands, and ranged from 0 to several hundred individuals. Wood Frog tadpoles were especially sensitive to sodium and chloride concentrations. At Cl concentrations less than 5 mg/L, occupancy for late-stage tadpoles was 84%, and declined by about 8% for each 5 mg/L increase in Cl to 40.1 mg/L Cl, the maximum concentration associated with the detection of tadpoles. Optimal water quality for late-stage Wood Frog tadpoles included low concentrations of Na ( x ¯ = 8.1 mg/L), and Cl ( x ¯ = 4.2 mg/L) relative to total dissolved solids and other ions, and high concentrations of phosphorus. In a landscape where ion concentrations in wetlands can range over 3 orders of magnitude, water quality analyses suggest that abundant Wood Frog tadpole populations occur in wetlands dominated by snow-melt runoff with its characteristic low ion concentrations. The present study highlights the importance to amphibian conservation of the water quality environment of tadpole habitat.