Emerging conflicts for the environmental use of water in high-valuable rangelands. Can livestock water ponds be managed as artificial wetlands for amphibians?

Canals, R. M.; Ferrer, V.; Iriarte, A.; Cárcamo, Susana; Emeterio, Leticia San; Villanueva, E.

doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2011.01.017

Cited by 25 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Meanwhile, European researchers continue to explore pond conservation measures [82], including management options that improve habitat quality in existing ponds [105,176]. Similar research and conservation activity is progressing for British and other European ditches [177,178].…”

Section: Interactions Between Perception and Condition In Artificial mentioning

confidence: 99%

Artificial Aquatic Ecosystems

Clifford

Heffernan

2018

Water

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Abstract:As humans increasingly alter the surface geomorphology of the Earth, a multitude of artificial aquatic systems have appeared, both deliberately and accidentally. Human modifications to the hydroscape range from alteration of existing waterbodies to construction of new ones. The extent of these systems makes them important and dynamic components of modern landscapes, but their condition and provisioning of ecosystem services by these systems are underexplored, and likely underestimated. Instead of accepting that artificial ecosystems have intrinsically low values, environmental scientists should determine what combination of factors, including setting, planning and construction, subsequent management and policy, and time, impact the condition of these systems. Scientists, social scientists, and policymakers should more thoroughly evaluate whether current study and management of artificial aquatic systems is based on the actual ecological condition of these systems, or judged differently, due to artificiality, and consider resultant possible changes in goals for these systems. The emerging recognition and study of artificial aquatic systems presents an exciting and important opportunity for science and society.

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Section: Interactions Between Perception and Condition In Artificial mentioning

confidence: 99%

Artificial Aquatic Ecosystems

Clifford

Heffernan

2018

Water

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“… , b) or complete their annual breeding cycle before water quality degradation becomes severe enough to affect reproduction (Canals et al. ). It is also likely that the presence of livestock often has simultaneously negative (decreased water quality and increased direct mortality) and positive (decreased emergent vegetation and increased hydroperiod) impacts on amphibian communities, making detection of a purely positive or negative net effect less likely.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast to other reviews assessing the impact of livestock, we recorded more studies with no/mixed effects than either positive or negative effects. Studies have shown that some amphibian species either select for different habitat than livestock (Roche et al 2012a,b) or complete their annual breeding cycle before water quality degradation becomes severe enough to affect reproduction (Canals et al 2011). It is also likely that the presence of livestock often has simultaneously negative (decreased water quality and increased direct mortality) and positive (decreased emergent vegetation and increased hydroperiod) impacts on amphibian communities, making detection of a purely positive or negative net effect less likely.…”

Section: Neutral/mixed Amphibian Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Amphibian responses to livestock use of wetlands: new empirical data and a global review

Howell

Mothes

Clements

et al. 2019

Ecological Applications

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Pastureland currently occupies 26% of Earth's ice-free land surface. As the global human population continues to increase and developing countries consume more proteinrich diets, the amount of land devoted to livestock grazing will only continue to rise. To mitigate the loss of global biodiversity as a consequence of the ever-expanding amount of land converted from native habitat into pastureland for livestock grazing, an understanding of how livestock impact wildlife is critical. While previous reviews have examined the impact of livestock on a wide variety of taxa, there have been no reviews examining how global livestock grazing affects amphibians. We conducted both an empirical study in south-central Florida examining the impact of cattle on amphibian communities and a quantitative literature review of similar studies on five continents. Our empirical study analyzed amphibian community responses to cattle as both a binary (presence/absence) variable, and as a continuous variable based on cow pie density. Across all analyses, we were unable to find any evidence that cattle affected the amphibian community at our study site. The literature review returned 46 papers that met our criteria for inclusion. Of these studies, 15 found positive effects of livestock on amphibians, 21 found neutral/mixed effects, and 10 found negative effects. Our quantitative analysis of these data indicates that amphibian species that historically occurred in closedcanopy habitats are generally negatively affected by livestock presence. In contrast, opencanopy amphibians are likely to experience positive effects from the presence of livestock, and these positive effects are most likely to occur in locations with cooler climates and/or greater precipitation seasonality. Collectively, our empirical work and literature review demonstrate that under the correct conditions well-managed rangelands are able to support diverse assemblages of amphibians. These rangeland ecosystems may play a critical role in protecting future amphibian biodiversity by serving as an "off-reserve" system to supplement the biodiversity conserved within traditional protected areas.

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“…), fencing to minimize livestock erosion (e.g., Markwell and Fellows , Canals et al. ) and attempts to reduce predation by removing introduced fish species (e.g., Vredenburg ). The stepping‐stones and hubs identified by this study may provide priority targets for management, allowing limited conservation funding to be allocated to habitats that serve as the most effective connectivity providers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface‐water dynamics and land use influence landscape connectivity across a major dryland region

Bishop‐Taylor

Tulbure

Broich

2017

Ecological Applications

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Landscape connectivity is important for the long-term persistence of species inhabiting dryland freshwater ecosystems, with spatiotemporal surface-water dynamics (e.g., flooding) maintaining connectivity by both creating temporary habitats and providing transient opportunities for dispersal. Improving our understanding of how landscape connectivity varies with respect to surface-water dynamics and land use is an important step to maintaining biodiversity in dynamic dryland environments. Using a newly available validated Landsat TM and ETM+ surface-water time series, we modelled landscape connectivity between dynamic surface-water habitats within Australia's 1 million km semiarid Murray Darling Basin across a 25-yr period (1987-2011). We identified key habitats that serve as well-connected "hubs," or "stepping-stones" that allow long-distance movements through surface-water habitat networks. We compared distributions of these habitats for short- and long-distance dispersal species during dry, average, and wet seasons, and across land-use types. The distribution of stepping-stones and hubs varied both spatially and temporally, with temporal changes driven by drought and flooding dynamics. Conservation areas and natural environments contained higher than expected proportions of both stepping-stones and hubs throughout the time series; however, highly modified agricultural landscapes increased in importance during wet seasons. Irrigated landscapes contained particularly high proportions of well-connected hubs for long-distance dispersers, but remained relatively disconnected for less vagile organisms. The habitats identified by our study may serve as ideal high-priority targets for land-use specific management aimed at maintaining or improving dispersal between surface-water habitats, potentially providing benefits to biodiversity beyond the immediate site scale. Our results also highlight the importance of accounting for the influence of spatial and temporal surface-water dynamics when studying landscape connectivity within highly variable dryland environments.

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Emerging conflicts for the environmental use of water in high-valuable rangelands. Can livestock water ponds be managed as artificial wetlands for amphibians?

Cited by 25 publications

References 42 publications

Artificial Aquatic Ecosystems

Artificial Aquatic Ecosystems

Amphibian responses to livestock use of wetlands: new empirical data and a global review

Surface‐water dynamics and land use influence landscape connectivity across a major dryland region

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