Abstract

REYNA-BUSTOS, Oscar Francisco; HUERTA-MARTINEZ, Francisco Martín  and  URIAS, Alejandro Muñoz-. Ecology of anurans of Sierra de Quila, Jalisco, Mexico: an analysis at two spatial scales. Caldasia [online]. 2022, vol.44, n.1, pp.130-141.  Epub May 02, 2022. ISSN 0366-5232.  https://doi.org/10.15446/caldasia.v44n1.89182.

Amphibians contribute to Mexico being considered a megadiverse country, due to its high endemism close to 60 %. At least 174 species (48 %) of Mexican amphibians are threatened or critically threatened mainly by anthropogenic factors. The objective of the present work was to describe richness, diversity, distribution patterns, and to identify the microhabitat preferences of anuran species in the Sierra de Quila Protected Natural Area. Field trips were made every two weeks between June and September from 2016 to 2018 to identify anurans watched or listened along the trips. Trails located in six vegetation types were used. Species and microhabitat location of each organism were recorded. A total of 24 species was recorded, being richness and diversity greater at the tropical deciduous forest and gallery forest, nevertheless, some species that have a strong preference for more temperate forests thus generating an important species turnover among vegetation types of the area. Anurans use eight types of microhabitats being the ground the most frequent space (16 species), however, only seven of the 24 species exhibited a significant preference for just one microhabitat. This information will be useful for support and lead the amphibian conservation effort at this Natural Protected Area specifying data about species distribution and their habitat use that serves as a reference for both future scientific and educational studies, focused on the conservation, and understanding of their ecology and distribution.

Keywords : Frog's ecology; microhabitat use; Lithobates neovolcanicus; Plectrohyla bistincta; Exerodonta smaragdina.

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