Relationship between anuran larvae occurrence and aquatic environment in septentrional east Palearctic landscapes

By

Borzée, Amaël
Kim, Ye Inn
Purevdorj, Zoljargal
Maslova, Irina
Schepina, Natalya
Jang, Yikweon

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2021-12-14

Original Publication

Herpetozoa

Volume

34

Pages

265--270

Subjects

anuran larvae , Conductivity , Palearctic landscape , pH , Salinity , septentrional Asia , species occurrence , Vegetation , water biotic and abiotic properties

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.34.e68577

 

Abstract

The presence of amphibian larvae is restricted by both biotic and abiotic variables of the environment. Some of these variables are still undetermined in the septentrional eastern Palearctic where Rana amurensis, Strauchbufo raddei and Dryophytes japonicus are found in large numbers. In this study, we sampled 92 sites across Mongolia, Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and measured biotic and abiotic water variables, as well as the height of flooded terrestrial and emergent aquatic vegetation at the breeding site. We determined that the presence of anuran larvae is generally, but not always, linked to pH and temperature. Rana amurensis was not significantly affected by any of the variables measured, while S. raddei was impacted by water conductivity and D. japonicus by pH, temperature and vegetation. Our results highlight a potential risk for these species due to the changes in aquatic variables in response to desertification.