Hartel Tibor, Maloș Cristian Valeriu, Sevianu Eliana, Pascu Ionuț
Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca Romania.
Department of Forest Monitoring 'Marin Dracea' Romanian National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry Voluntari Romania.
Ecol Evol. 2025 Jun 27;15(7):e71608. doi: 10.1002/ece3.71608. eCollection 2025 Jul.
Anthropogenic habitats can play a pivotal role in species persistence within human-modified landscapes. We examined aquatic habitat use by , an endangered amphibian that relies entirely on a dense network of 157 human-made temporary ponds created by historical cart tracks and maintained through ongoing off-road vehicle activity. Over three consecutive years (2021-2023), including one year of extreme drought (2022), we investigated how pond characteristics and connectivity influenced pond occupancy, reproduction, and colonization-extinction dynamics in this anthropogenic pondscape. Pond availability closely followed precipitation: wet years (2021, 2023) supported ~25 ponds/km, while drought in 2022 led to a 90% reduction in pond formation. Adult occupancy was high in 2021 and 2023 ( > 0.8), and egg/larval occupancy in 2021 reached = 0.70. Detection probabilities exceeded 0.75 for adults and 0.5 for larvae. In 2021, adult occupancy was best explained by connectivity metrics, suggesting dispersal-driven pond use. By 2023, occupancy was influenced by both connectivity and pond-specific features (hydroperiod, area, depth), indicating a shift toward selective site use. Between 2021 and 2023, the colonization rate was 0.50 and the extinction rate was 0.13. These findings confirm 's flexible breeding strategy and highlights the ecological value of anthropogenic pond networks for patchy populations. Conservation efforts should focus on preserving both the spatial configuration (connectivity) and functional properties (hydroperiod, pond density) of such systems. A key challenge is to manage human disturbance to sustain pond formation while avoiding stressing the amphibians and habitat degradation.
人为栖息地在人类改造的景观中物种的存续方面可以发挥关键作用。我们研究了一种濒危两栖动物对水生栖息地的利用情况，该两栖动物完全依赖于由历史车辙形成并通过持续的越野车辆活动得以维持的157个密集的人造临时池塘网络。在连续三年（2021 - 2023年），包括一年的极端干旱（2022年）期间，我们调查了池塘特征和连通性如何影响这个人为池塘景观中的池塘占用、繁殖以及定殖 - 灭绝动态。池塘的可利用性与降水量密切相关：湿润年份（2021年、2023年）每平方公里约有25个池塘，而2022年的干旱导致池塘形成量减少了90%。2021年和2023年成年个体的占有率较高（> 0.8），2021年卵/幼体的占有率达到0.70。成年个体的检测概率超过0.75，幼体的检测概率超过0.5。在2021年，成年个体的占有率最好由连通性指标来解释，这表明是扩散驱动的池塘利用。到2023年，占有率受到连通性和特定池塘特征（水周期、面积、深度）的共同影响，这表明向选择性位点利用的转变。在2021年至2023年期间，定殖率为0.50，灭绝率为0.13。这些发现证实了该两栖动物灵活的繁殖策略，并突出了人为池塘网络对零散种群的生态价值。保护工作应专注于保护此类系统的空间配置（连通性）和功能特性（水周期、池塘密度）。一个关键挑战是管理人类干扰，以维持池塘形成，同时避免给两栖动物造成压力和栖息地退化。
