Larval development and survival of pond-breeding anurans in an agricultural landscape impacted more by phytoplankton than surrounding habitat

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 16; no. 7; p. e0255058
• Main Authors: Youngquist, Melissa B, Boone, Michelle D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 26.07.2021; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Abundance; Agricultural land; Agriculture; Amphibia; Amphibians; Analysis; Animal behavior; Aquatic ecosystems; Aquatic environment; Aquatic habitats; Biodiversity; Biodiversity loss; Biology and Life Sciences; Breeding; Developmental stages; Earth Sciences; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Environmental aspects; Environmental degradation; Freshwater environments; Frogs; Grasslands; Growth; Habitats; Land use; Landscape; Larval development; Metamorphosis; Phytoplankton; Ponds; Survival; Terrestrial environments; Water quality; Water quality variables; Wetlands; United States; United States > US; Ohio
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0255058

The destruction of freshwater habitat is a major contributor to biodiversity loss in aquatic ecosystems. However, created or restored wetlands could partially mitigate aquatic biodiversity loss by increasing the amount of available habitat across a landscape. We investigated the impact of surrounding terrestrial habitat and water quality variables on suitability for two species of pond-breeding amphibians (bullfrogs [Lithobates catesbeianus] and Blanchard's cricket frogs [Acris blanchardi]) in created permanent wetlands located on an agricultural landscape. We examined tadpole growth and survival in field enclosures placed in ponds surrounded by agricultural, forested, or grassland habitats. We also evaluated the potential for carryover effects of the aquatic environment on terrestrial growth and overwinter survival of cricket frog metamorphs. We found that habitat adjacent to ponds did not predict tadpole growth or survival. Rather, phytoplankton abundance, which showed high variability among ponds within habitat type, was the only predictor of tadpole growth. Cricket frogs emerged larger and earlier from ponds with higher phytoplankton abundance; bullfrogs were also larger and at a more advanced developmental stage in ponds with higher levels of phytoplankton. Overwinter survival of cricket frogs was explained by size at metamorphosis and there were no apparent carryover effects of land use or pond-of-origin on overwinter growth and survival. Our results demonstrate that created ponds in human-dominated landscapes can provide suitable habitat for some anurans, independent of the adjacent terrestrial habitat.