Evaluating the Effects of Land Use on Headwater Wetland Amphibian Assemblages in Coastal Alabama

Alix, Diane M.; Anderson, Christopher J.; Grand, James B.; Guyer, Craig

doi:10.1007/s13157-014-0553-y

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Therefore, topography‐weighted buffers likely underestimated the area potentially available to wood frogs during migration and dispersal and may have biased model results. Although circular buffers are commonly used (Alix et al , Boeing et al ) and easily applied, landscape‐informed buffers may yield greater prediction power and explained deviances (Ray et al , Zanini et al ). Previous studies have used land cover, land use, and movement barrier data to estimate landscape effects on amphibian breeding site occupancy and connectivity (Ray et al , Zanini et al , Scherer et al ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of breeding site occupancy by amphibians in montane landscapes

2016

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Ecological relationships and processes vary across species’ geographic distributions, life stages and spatial, and temporal scales. Montane landscapes are characterized by low wetland densities, rugged topographies, and cold climates. Consequently, aquatic‐dependent and low‐vagility ectothermic species (e.g., pool‐breeding amphibians) may exhibit unique ecological associations in montane landscapes. We evaluated the relative importance of breeding‐ and landscape‐scale features associated with spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) and wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) wetland occupancy in Maine's Upper Montane‐Alpine Zone ecoregion, and we determined whether models performed better when the inclusive landscape‐scale covariates were estimated with topography‐weighted or circular buffers. We surveyed 135 potential breeding sites during May 2013–June 2014 and evaluated environmental relationships with multi‐season implicit dynamics occupancy models. Breeding site occupancy by both species was influenced solely by breeding‐scale habitat features. Spotted salamander occupancy probabilities increased with previous or current beaver (Castor canadensis) presence, and models generally were better supported when the inclusive landscape‐scale covariates were estimated with topography‐weighted rather than circular buffers. Wood frog occupancy probabilities increased with site area and percent shallows, but neither buffer type was better supported than the other. Model rank order and support varied between buffer types, but model inferences did not. Our results suggest pool‐breeding amphibian conservation in montane Maine include measures to maintain beaver populations and large wetlands with proportionally large areas of shallows ≤1‐m deep. Inconsistencies between our study and previous studies substantiate the value of region‐specific research for augmenting species’ conservation management plans and suggest the application of out‐of‐region inferences may promote ineffective conservation. © 2016 The Wildlife Society.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of breeding site occupancy by amphibians in montane landscapes

2016

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“…For the passive survey, we placed an AAR (Song Meter SM3; Wildlife Acoustics, Maynard, Massachusetts, USA) approximately 1.5 m above the ground in the middle of a transect segment at each of 50 sampling sites (Parris , Alix et al. , Walls et al. ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of agriculture and topography on tropical amphibian species and communities

Ribeiro

Siqueira

Brejão

et al. 2018

Ecological Applications

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Habitat loss is the greatest threat to the persistence of forest-dependent amphibians, but it is not the only factor influencing species occurrences. The composition of the surrounding matrix, structure of stream networks, and topography are also important landscape characteristics influencing amphibian distributions. Tropical forests have high diversity and endemism of amphibians, but little is known about the specific responses of many of these species to landscape features. In this paper, we quantify the response of amphibian species and communities to landscape-scale characteristics in streams within the fragmented Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We surveyed amphibian communities during a rainy season in 50 independent stream segments using Standardized Acoustic and Visual Transect Sampling (active) and Automated Acoustic Recorders (passive) methods. We developed a hierarchical multi-species occupancy model to quantify the influence of landscape-scale characteristics (forest cover, agriculture, catchment area, stream density, and slope) on amphibian occurrence probabilities while accounting for imperfect detection of species using the two survey methods. At the community level, we estimated an overall mean positive relationship between amphibian occurrence probabilities and forest cover, and a negative relationship with agriculture. Catchment area and slope were negatively related with amphibian community structure (95% credible interval [CI] did not overlap zero). The species-level relationships with landscape covariates were highly variable but showed similar patterns to those at the community level. Species detection probabilities varied widely and were influenced by the sampling method. For most species, the active method resulted in higher detection probabilities than the passive approach. Our findings suggest that small streams and flat topography lead to higher amphibian occurrence probabilities for many species in Brazil's Atlantic Forest. Our results combined with land use and topographic maps can be used to make predictions of amphibian occurrences and distributions beyond our study area. Such projections can be useful to determine where to conduct future research and prioritize conservation efforts in human-modified landscapes.

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“…Change in land use driven by anthropogenic activities has been essential to satisfy the human needs to provide natural resources and ecosystem services, such as food, fiber, shelter, and freshwater (DeFries et al 2004;Foley et al 2005). While it is known about its fundamental role as a provider of these services, it is also known for its impact on different ecosystems in several ways, such as aquatic ecosystems (Alix et al 2014;Qu et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gaps, biases, and future directions in research on the impacts of anthropogenic land-use change on aquatic ecosystems: a topic-based bibliometric analysis

Fernandez

Muñoz

Oliva

et al. 2021

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Anthropogenic land use change (ALUC) satisfies human needs but also impacts aquatic ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems are intrinsically linked with terrestrial landscapes, an association that is already recognized as a key factor to address future research and effective governance. However, the complexity and range of the impact of ALUC in aquatic ecosystems have been fundamental challenges and have implicitly routed the analysis to particular segments, drivers, management, or effects of the theme. In this study, we present an attempt to frame the subject in a broader context through a topic-based bibliometric analysis. Our aim is to identify possible biases and gaps in the current scientific literature and detect the main topics that have characterized the theme. Our results show an unequal distribution of articles by country when we analyzed the authors' affiliation and also a slight increase in contributions from social and economic disciplines, although they are still underrepresented. Moreover, we distinguish topics whose prevalence seems to change, especially those topics where the use of scenario analysis and multistressors are considered. We discuss the main biases and gaps revealed by our results, concluding that future studies on the impact of ALUC on aquatic ecosystems should better integrate social and economic disciplines and expand geographic frontiers.

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Evaluating the Effects of Land Use on Headwater Wetland Amphibian Assemblages in Coastal Alabama

Cited by 12 publications

References 35 publications

Predictors of breeding site occupancy by amphibians in montane landscapes

Predictors of breeding site occupancy by amphibians in montane landscapes

Effects of agriculture and topography on tropical amphibian species and communities

Gaps, biases, and future directions in research on the impacts of anthropogenic land-use change on aquatic ecosystems: a topic-based bibliometric analysis

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