Species' traits drive amphibian tolerance to anthropogenic habitat modification

Anthropogenic habitat modification is accelerating, threatening the world’s biodiversity. Understanding species’ responses to anthropogenic modification is vital for halting species’ declines. However, this information is lacking for globally threatened amphibians, informed primarily by small community-level studies. We integrated >126,000 verified citizen science observations of frogs, with a global continuous measure of anthropogenic habitat modification for a continental scale analysis of the effects of habitat modification on frogs. We derived a modification index – accounting for anthropogenic stressors such as human habitation, agriculture, transport, and energy production – for 87 species (36% of all Australian frog species). We used this index to quantify and rank each species’ tolerance of anthropogenic habitat modification, then compiled traits of all the frog species and assessed how well these equipped species to tolerate modified habitats. Most of Australia’s frog species examined were adversely affected by habitat modification. Habitat specialists and species with large geographic range sizes were the least tolerant of habitat modification. Call dominant frequency, body size, clutch type, and calling position (i.e., from vegetation) were also related to tolerance of habitat modification. There is an urgent need for improved consideration of anthropogenic impacts and improved conservation measures to ensure the long-term persistence of frog populations, particularly focused on specialists and species identified as intolerant of modified habitats.

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Urbanization and Population Genetic Structure of the Panama City crayfish (Procambarus econfinae)

Journal of Heredity ◽

10.1093/jhered/esz072 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 111 (2) ◽

pp. 204-215

Author(s):

Sarah I Duncan ◽

Ellen P Robertson ◽

Robert J Fletcher ◽

James D Austin

Keyword(s):

Genetic Diversity ◽

Genetic Structure ◽

Habitat Loss ◽

Legal Protection ◽

Habitat Modification ◽

Panama City ◽

Habitat Patches ◽

Anthropogenic Habitat ◽

Habitat Loss And Fragmentation

Abstract For species with geographically restricted distributions, the impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation on long-term persistence may be particularly pronounced. We examined the genetic structure of Panama City crayfish (PCC), Procambarus econfinae, whose historical distribution is limited to an area approximately 145 km2, largely within the limits of Panama City and eastern Bay County, FL. Currently, PCC occupy approximately 28% of its historical range, with suitable habitat composed of fragmented patches in the highly urbanized western portion of the range and managed plantations in the more contiguous eastern portion of the range. We used 1640 anonymous single-nucleotide polymorphisms to evaluate the effects of anthropogenic habitat modification on the genetic diversity and population structure of 161 PCC sampled from across its known distribution. First, we examined urban habitat patches in the west compared with less-developed habitat patches in the east. Second, we used approximate Bayesian computation to model inferences on the demographic history of eastern and western populations. We found anthropogenic habitat modifications explain the genetic structure of PCC range-wide. Clustering analyses revealed significant genetic structure between and within eastern and western regions. Estimates of divergence between east and west were consistent with urban growth in the mid-20th century. PCC have low genetic diversity and high levels of inbreeding and relatedness, indicating populations are small and isolated. Our results suggest that PCC have been strongly affected by habitat loss and fragmentation and management strategies, including legal protection, translocations, or reintroductions, may be necessary to ensure long-term persistence.

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Reptile responses to anthropogenic habitat modification: A global meta‐analysis

Global Ecology and Biogeography ◽

10.1111/geb.13091 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (7) ◽

pp. 1265-1279 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Tim S. Doherty ◽

Sara Balouch ◽

Kristian Bell ◽

Thomas J. Burns ◽

Anat Feldman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Meta Analysis ◽

Habitat Modification ◽

Anthropogenic Habitat

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The effect of anthropogenic habitat modification on habitat use byAfrana angolensisalong the dodwe river, Tanzania

African Journal of Herpetology ◽

10.1080/21564574.2002.9635463 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 51 (1) ◽

pp. 69-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Scott G. Lynn ◽

Christian Lindle

Keyword(s):

Habitat Use ◽

Habitat Modification ◽

Anthropogenic Habitat

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Diet of two fossorial herbivores in a seasonally snow-covered environment

Australian Mammalogy ◽

10.1071/am16015 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 39 (2) ◽

pp. 169 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

K. Green ◽

N. E. Davis ◽

W. A. Robinson

Keyword(s):

Range Expansion ◽

Oryctolagus Cuniculus ◽

Habitat Modification ◽

Alpine Treeline ◽

Winter Snow ◽

Anthropogenic Habitat ◽

Eastern Australia ◽

European Rabbits ◽

Elevational Range

To understand the recent elevational range expansion of European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) with declining snow cover and earlier snow thaw we examined their diet in relation to that of long-term residents, common wombats (Vombatus ursinus). The colonisation of eastern Australia by rabbits was effectively completed by 1910 when they reached an elevation of 1500 m (the winter snowline). Rabbits began to penetrate higher elevations only from the 1970s in association with anthropogenic habitat modification. Since 2011, rabbits have occupied elevations to the alpine treeline (~1850 m) throughout the year without the ameliorating presence of infrastructure or anthropogenically modified vegetation. Rabbits and wombats are both grazers preferring grasses (largely inaccessible beneath winter snow) and are spatially restricted in their foraging by their need to return to their burrows. Wombats used a much wider foraging range, enabling them to select preferred food. Rabbits, with a much smaller range, were constrained in their choice of forage mainly to plants that projected above the snow. Unexpectedly, rabbits fed intensively on leaves of eucalypts, food not typically consumed in substantial quantities by this species. These leaves, on stems regenerating after fire, will diminish in availability as stems mature, possibly halting the range expansion of rabbits.

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Hybridization drives genetic erosion in sympatric desert fishes of western North America

10.1101/644641 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tyler K. Chafin ◽

Marlis R. Douglas ◽

Bradley T. Martin ◽

Michael E. Douglas

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Isolation ◽

Extinction Risk ◽

Genetic Erosion ◽

Sympatric Species ◽

Habitat Modification ◽

Genetic Purity ◽

Hybrid Swarm ◽

Desert Fishes ◽

Differential Adaptation ◽

Anthropogenic Habitat

AbstractMany species have evolved or currently coexist in sympatry due to differential adaptation in a heterogeneous environment. However, anthropogenic habitat modifications can either disrupt reproductive barriers or obscure environmental conditions which underlie fitness gradients. In this study, we evaluated the potential for an anthropogenically-mediated shift in reproductive boundaries that separate two historically sympatric fish species (Gila cypha and G. robusta) endemic to the Colorado River Basin using ddRAD sequencing of 368 individuals. We first examined the integrity of reproductive isolation while in sympatry and allopatry, then characterized hybrid ancestries using genealogical assignment tests. We tested for localized erosion of reproductive isolation by comparing site-wise genomic clines against global patterns and identified a breakdown in the drainage-wide pattern of selection against interspecific heterozygotes. This, in turn, allowed for the formation of a hybrid swarm in one tributary, and asymmetric introgression where species co-occur. We also detected a weak but significant relationship between genetic purity and degree of consumptive water removal, suggesting a role for anthropogenic habitat modifications in undermining species boundaries. In addition, results from basin-wide genomic clines suggested that hybrids and parental forms are adaptively non-equivalent. If so, then a failure to manage for hybridization will exacerbate the long-term extinction risk in parental populations. These results reinforce the role of anthropogenic habitat modification in promoting interspecific introgression in sympatric species by relaxing divergent selection. This, in turn, underscores a broader role for hybridization in decreasing global biodiversity within rapidly deteriorating environments.

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Habitat mediates coevolved but not novel species interactions

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2021.2338 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 289 (1966) ◽

Author(s):

Joshua P. Twining ◽

Chris Sutherland ◽

Neil Reid ◽

David G. Tosh

Keyword(s):

Species Interactions ◽

Prey Species ◽

Positive Influence ◽

Habitat Modification ◽

Red Squirrel ◽

Pine Marten ◽

Grey Squirrel ◽

Landscape Modification ◽

Anthropogenic Habitat ◽

Invasive Prey

Ongoing recovery of native predators has the potential to alter species interactions, with community and ecosystem wide implications. We estimated the co-occurrence of three species of conservation and management interest from a multi-species citizen science camera trap survey. We demonstrate fundamental differences in novel and coevolved predator–prey interactions that are mediated by habitat. Specifically, we demonstrate that anthropogenic habitat modification had no influence on the expansion of the recovering native pine marten in Ireland, nor does it affect the predator's suppressive influence on an invasive prey species, the grey squirrel. By contrast, the direction of the interaction between the pine marten and a native prey species, the red squirrel, is dependent on habitat. Pine martens had a positive influence on red squirrel occurrence at a landscape scale, especially in native broadleaf woodlands. However, in areas dominated by non-native conifer plantations, the pine marten reduced red squirrel occurrence. These findings suggest that following the recovery of a native predator, the benefits of competitive release are spatially structured and habitat-specific. The potential for past and future landscape modification to alter established interactions between predators and prey has global implications in the context of the ongoing recovery of predator populations in human-modified landscapes.

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Decay of interspecific avian flock networks along a disturbance gradient in Amazonia

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2013.2599 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 281 (1776) ◽

pp. 20132599 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

Karl Mokross ◽

Thomas B. Ryder ◽

Marina Corrêa Côrtes ◽

Jared D. Wolfe ◽

Philip C Stouffer

Keyword(s):

Trophic Interactions ◽

Habitat Structure ◽

Large Scale ◽

Habitat Modification ◽

Forest Fragments ◽

Ecological Interactions ◽

Mixed Species ◽

Vegetation Height ◽

Anthropogenic Habitat ◽

Analytical Approaches

Our understanding of how anthropogenic habitat change shapes species interactions is in its infancy. This is in large part because analytical approaches such as network theory have only recently been applied to characterize complex community dynamics. Network models are a powerful tool for quantifying how ecological interactions are affected by habitat modification because they provide metrics that quantify community structure and function. Here, we examine how large-scale habitat alteration has affected ecological interactions among mixed-species flocking birds in Amazonian rainforest. These flocks provide a model system for investigating how habitat heterogeneity influences non-trophic interactions and the subsequent social structure of forest-dependent mixed-species bird flocks. We analyse 21 flock interaction networks throughout a mosaic of primary forest, fragments of varying sizes and secondary forest (SF) at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project in central Amazonian Brazil. Habitat type had a strong effect on network structure at the levels of both species and flock. Frequency of associations among species, as summarized by weighted degree, declined with increasing levels of forest fragmentation and SF. At the flock level, clustering coefficients and overall attendance positively correlated with mean vegetation height, indicating a strong effect of habitat structure on flock cohesion and stability. Prior research has shown that trophic interactions are often resilient to large-scale changes in habitat structure because species are ecologically redundant. By contrast, our results suggest that behavioural interactions and the structure of non-trophic networks are highly sensitive to environmental change. Thus, a more nuanced, system-by-system approach may be needed when thinking about the resiliency of ecological networks.

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