Amphibian diversity across three adjacent ecosystems in Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Amphibians are the most threatened species-rich vertebrate group, with species extinctions and population declines occurring globally, even in protected and seemingly pristine habitats. These ‘enigmatic declines’ are generated by climate change and infectious diseases. However, the consequences of t...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2023-11-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/16185.pdf |
| _version_ | 1827630680005148672 |
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| author | Alex W. Edwards Xavier A. Harrison M. Alex Smith Maria Marta Chavarría Díaz Mahmood Sasa Daniel H. Janzen Winnie Hallwachs Gerardo Chaves Roberto Fernández Caroline Palmer Chloe Wilson Alexandra North Robert Puschendorf |
| author_facet | Alex W. Edwards Xavier A. Harrison M. Alex Smith Maria Marta Chavarría Díaz Mahmood Sasa Daniel H. Janzen Winnie Hallwachs Gerardo Chaves Roberto Fernández Caroline Palmer Chloe Wilson Alexandra North Robert Puschendorf |
| author_sort | Alex W. Edwards |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Amphibians are the most threatened species-rich vertebrate group, with species extinctions and population declines occurring globally, even in protected and seemingly pristine habitats. These ‘enigmatic declines’ are generated by climate change and infectious diseases. However, the consequences of these declines are undocumented as no baseline ecological data exists for most affected areas. Like other neotropical countries, Costa Rica, including Área de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) in north-western Costa Rica, experienced rapid amphibian population declines and apparent extinctions during the past three decades. To delineate amphibian diversity patterns within ACG, a large-scale comparison of multiple sites and habitats was conducted. Distance and time constrained visual encounter surveys characterised species richness at five sites—Murciélago (dry forest), Santa Rosa (dry forest), Maritza (mid-elevation dry-rain forest intersect), San Gerardo (rainforest) and Cacao (cloud forest). Furthermore, species-richness patterns for Cacao were compared with historic data from 1987–8, before amphibians declined in the area. Rainforests had the highest species richness, with triple the species of their dry forest counterparts. A decline of 45% (20 to 11 species) in amphibian species richness was encountered when comparing historic and contemporary data for Cacao. Conservation efforts sometimes focus on increasing the resilience of protected areas, by increasing their range of ecosystems. In this sense ACG is unique containing many tropical ecosystems compressed in a small geographic space, all protected and recognised as a UNESCO world heritage site. It thus provides an extraordinary platform to understand changes, past and present, and the resilience of tropical ecosystems and assemblages, or lack thereof, to climate change. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T14:10:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c23f92639ba346cab604623670bb5e4d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T14:10:14Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-c23f92639ba346cab604623670bb5e4d2023-11-29T15:05:06ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592023-11-0111e1618510.7717/peerj.16185Amphibian diversity across three adjacent ecosystems in Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa RicaAlex W. Edwards0Xavier A. Harrison1M. Alex Smith2Maria Marta Chavarría Díaz3Mahmood Sasa4Daniel H. Janzen5Winnie Hallwachs6Gerardo Chaves7Roberto Fernández8Caroline Palmer9Chloe Wilson10Alexandra North11Robert Puschendorf12School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon, UKCentre for Ecology & Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall, UKDepartment of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, CanadaDepartment of Research, Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Liberia, Guanacaste, Costa RicaSchool of Biology, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, San Jose, Costa RicaDepartment of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States of AmericaDepartment of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States of AmericaSchool of Biology, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Pedro, San Jose, Costa RicaGuanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund, Philadelphia, United States of AmericaSchool of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon, UKSchool of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon, UKSchool of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon, UKSchool of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon, UKAmphibians are the most threatened species-rich vertebrate group, with species extinctions and population declines occurring globally, even in protected and seemingly pristine habitats. These ‘enigmatic declines’ are generated by climate change and infectious diseases. However, the consequences of these declines are undocumented as no baseline ecological data exists for most affected areas. Like other neotropical countries, Costa Rica, including Área de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) in north-western Costa Rica, experienced rapid amphibian population declines and apparent extinctions during the past three decades. To delineate amphibian diversity patterns within ACG, a large-scale comparison of multiple sites and habitats was conducted. Distance and time constrained visual encounter surveys characterised species richness at five sites—Murciélago (dry forest), Santa Rosa (dry forest), Maritza (mid-elevation dry-rain forest intersect), San Gerardo (rainforest) and Cacao (cloud forest). Furthermore, species-richness patterns for Cacao were compared with historic data from 1987–8, before amphibians declined in the area. Rainforests had the highest species richness, with triple the species of their dry forest counterparts. A decline of 45% (20 to 11 species) in amphibian species richness was encountered when comparing historic and contemporary data for Cacao. Conservation efforts sometimes focus on increasing the resilience of protected areas, by increasing their range of ecosystems. In this sense ACG is unique containing many tropical ecosystems compressed in a small geographic space, all protected and recognised as a UNESCO world heritage site. It thus provides an extraordinary platform to understand changes, past and present, and the resilience of tropical ecosystems and assemblages, or lack thereof, to climate change.https://peerj.com/articles/16185.pdfCosta RicaSpecies richnessAnuransAmphibian declinesForest habitats |
| spellingShingle | Alex W. Edwards Xavier A. Harrison M. Alex Smith Maria Marta Chavarría Díaz Mahmood Sasa Daniel H. Janzen Winnie Hallwachs Gerardo Chaves Roberto Fernández Caroline Palmer Chloe Wilson Alexandra North Robert Puschendorf Amphibian diversity across three adjacent ecosystems in Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica PeerJ Costa Rica Species richness Anurans Amphibian declines Forest habitats |
| title | Amphibian diversity across three adjacent ecosystems in Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica |
| title_full | Amphibian diversity across three adjacent ecosystems in Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica |
| title_fullStr | Amphibian diversity across three adjacent ecosystems in Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica |
| title_full_unstemmed | Amphibian diversity across three adjacent ecosystems in Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica |
| title_short | Amphibian diversity across three adjacent ecosystems in Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica |
| title_sort | amphibian diversity across three adjacent ecosystems in area de conservacion guanacaste costa rica |
| topic | Costa Rica Species richness Anurans Amphibian declines Forest habitats |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/16185.pdf |
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