Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252-0001, USA.
Conserv Biol. 2010 Feb;24(1):295-301. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01301.x. Epub 2009 Jul 21.
Installation and maintenance of stormwater ponds to detain and treat runoff from impervious surfaces is a common method of stormwater control in developed areas. That these ponds capture pollutants, however, is of concern for wildlife species that use the ponds, particularly pond-breeding amphibians. To assess the relative contribution of stormwater ponds to the persistence of amphibian populations in suburban landscapes, we compared amphibian use of stormwater ponds and other available wetlands in suburban and forested watersheds. We surveyed three suburban and three primarily forested first-order watersheds to identify all potential wetlands that might serve as breeding sites for pond-breeding amphibians. We performed call, egg-mass, and larval surveys to measure breeding effort at each wetland in spring and summer 2007 and 2008. In suburban watersheds most (89%) of the wetlands that had breeding activity were either stormwater ponds or otherwise artificial. This pattern was also evident in the forested watersheds, where amphibians were primarily found breeding in wetlands created by past human activity. Late-stage larvae were found only in anthropogenic wetlands in all study areas because the remaining natural wetlands did not hold water long enough for larvae to complete development. Our results suggest that in urban and suburban landscapes with naturally low densities of wetlands, wetlands created by current or historic land uses may be as important to amphibian conservation as natural wetlands or pools and that management strategies directed at urban and suburban landscapes should recognize and incorporate human-created wetlands.
安装和维护雨水池塘以截留和处理不透水表面的径流是发达地区控制雨水的常用方法。然而，这些池塘捕获污染物，这引起了使用池塘的野生动物物种的关注，特别是池塘繁殖的两栖动物。为了评估雨水池塘对郊区景观中两栖动物种群持续存在的相对贡献，我们比较了雨水池塘和其他可用湿地在郊区和森林流域中的两栖动物利用情况。我们调查了三个郊区和三个主要是森林的一级流域，以确定所有可能作为池塘繁殖两栖动物繁殖地的潜在湿地。我们在 2007 年和 2008 年的春季和夏季进行了鸣叫、卵团和幼虫调查，以测量每个湿地的繁殖力度。在郊区流域，大多数（89%）有繁殖活动的湿地是雨水池塘或其他人工湿地。这种模式在森林流域也很明显，在那里，两栖动物主要在过去人类活动创造的湿地中繁殖。在所有研究区域中，只有在人为湿地中才能发现晚期幼虫，因为其余的自然湿地没有足够的水来让幼虫完成发育。我们的结果表明，在自然湿地密度较低的城市和郊区景观中，当前或历史土地利用所创造的湿地可能对两栖动物保护与自然湿地或池塘一样重要，并且针对城市和郊区景观的管理策略应认识到并纳入人为创造的湿地。
