The role of habitat features in patterns of population connectivity of two Mediterranean amphibians in arid landscapes of central Iberia
| Autor: | Jorge Gutiérrez-Rodríguez, João Gonçalves, Emilio Civantos, Bruno Maia-Carvalho, Carlos Caballero-Díaz, Helena Gonçalves, Íñigo Martínez-Solano |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (España), Junta de Andalucía, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal), Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha, UAM. Departamento de Biología |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
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| Popis: | [Context] Mediterranean wetland ecosystems are in continuous decline due to human pressure. Amphibians are key elements of biotic communities of Mediterranean temporary ponds and streams, and their persistence depends on the availability and inter-connectivity of breeding sites. [Objectives] We investigated the role of different factors potentially driving functional connectivity patterns in two amphibian species at the landscape and local scales. We focused on two Mediterranean endemic pond-breeding amphibians inhabiting semiarid landscapes of central Spain, the common parsley frog (Pelodytes punctatus) and the common midwife toad (Alytes obstetricans). [Methods] We genotyped 336 individuals of P. punctatus and 318 of A. obstetricans from 17 and 16 breeding populations at 10 and 17 microsatellite loci, respectively. We used remotely sensed vegetation/ moisture indices and land use/cover data to derive optimized resistance surfaces and test their association with estimates of gene flow and migration rates across populations. [Results] We found evidence for higher population connectivity in common midwife toads than in common parsley frogs, with a strong effect of water availability in patterns of population connectivity of both species. However, the two species differ in the role of landscape features on population connectivity, with the distance and spatial distribution of artificial land-use types positively influencing connectivity in A. obstetricans and meadows/pastureland favouring P. punctatus. This is in line with reported breeding site preferences for the two species, with A. obstetricans successfully breeding in artificial water bodies that P. punctatus generally avoid. [Conclusions] This study highlights the importance of assessing species–habitat relationships shaping connectivity when developing and implementing conservation and management actions to benefit fragmented amphibian populations in the Mediterranean region. Our results show that amphibian species respond differently, even contrastingly to landscape features and thus require alternative, complementary strategies to improve population connectivity and ensure long-term viability. Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. JGR was supported by “Doctores Junta de Andalucía” postdoctoral fellowship (DOC_00668, FEDER EU/Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad, Junta de Andalucía). JG was funded by the Individual Scientific Employment Stimulus Program (2017) by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT CEECIND/02331/2017/CP1423/CT0012). EC was supported by the FCT through a Postdoctoral Grant (SFRH/BPD/109182/2015). This study was funded by projects CGL2008-04271-C02-01/BOS, CGL2011-28300 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain, and FEDER), PPII10-0097-4200 (Junta de Comunidades de Castilla la Mancha and FEDER), and CGL2017-83131-P (FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades–Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Spain). |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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