Amphibians in an urban environment: a case study from a central European city (Wrocław, Poland)

Abstract

In 2016, we studied the occurrence of amphibians in 231 selected ponds in the city of Wrocław (Lower Silesia, Poland) and confirmed the occurrence of 10 species: Bombina bombina, Bufo bufo, Bufotes viridis, Hyla arborea, Pelobates fuscus, Pelophylax esculentus complex, Rana arvalis, Rana temporaria, Lissotriton vulgaris and Triturus cristatus. Among all studied sites, the most common were P. esculentus complex (146 occupied sites, 63.2%) and B. bufo (119, 51.5%), while the rarest was P. fuscus (8, 3.5%). The number of species at a single site varied from 0 (28 sites, 12.1%) to 9 (1 site, 0.4%). Frequency and mean amphibian species richness reached 87.9% and 2.7 ± 1.9, respectively. The composition of amphibian species did not change in comparison to previous studies conducted in the years 1997-2009, but declining trends in five species (B. bombina, B. viridis, H. arborea, P. esculentus complex, P. fuscus) were observed (28 compared sites). The results revealed that the permanency of ponds, their occurrence in the vicinity of river valleys, and a high ratio of watercourse length and green area around ponds are positively correlated and have a significant influence on amphibian species richness within the city. Thus, these identified factors should be considered in the course of sustainable urban planning in order to avoid potential conflicts between nature conservation and urban development.

Amphibian diversity of the Dnipro river within the limits of the Dnipro city agglomeration

“…Найпоширенішими були зелені жаби (146 водойм), а найрідше зустрічалась часничниця звичайна ((Pelobates fuscus (Laurenti, 1768)) (8 водойм). Однак у 28 водоймах взагалі не виявили земноводних, а одночасно дев'ять видів виявили лише в одному місці [23].…”

“…Наявність постійних водойм достатнього розміру на заплавних ділянках річок та збереження навколо деревно-чагарникової рослинності мають велике значення для фауни земноводних міста, що підтверджують і інші дослідники [23]. Також в умовах міста на видове різноманіття та чисельність земноводних впливає площа придатних для життя ділянок, які могли б підтримувати сталість існування самодостатньої популяції.…”

Advancing Amphibian Conservation through Citizen Science in Urban Municipalities

“…Challenges include habitat loss from removal of wetlands and upland terrestrial habitat, fragmentation of habitat and dispersal routes by road networks and the built environment, habitat degradation from urban pollutants and introduced predatory fish species, and altered breeding, feeding, and movement behaviours in the presence of light and/or sound pollution [11][12][13][14][15][16]. Despite these challenges, amphibian species are reported in urban areas globally, although many are declining [12,[17][18][19][20]. Relative to other organisms, amphibians often have a heightened sensitivity to certain conditions in their environment because of their biology and ecology [21].…”

The European green toad, Bufotes viridis, in Donaufeld (Vienna, Austria): status and size of the population

“…In Central Europe B. viridis is regarded as a synanthropic species, occurring mainly in agricultural landscapes with a warm climate (Stöck et al 2009). It also lives in gardens, parks and ruderal areas in urban environments (Kovács and Sas 2010;Kaczmarski et al 2019;Konowalik et al 2019).…”