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Persistence of amphibian metapopulation occupancy in dynamic wetlandscapes

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Abstract

Context

Occupancy and persistence of amphibian populations in patchy wetland habitats is influenced by landscape heterogeneity, species traits, and hydroclimatic variability. Such information is helpful for understanding the key drivers for reported world-wide declines in amphibian populations over past decades.

Objectives

The overarching goal of this study is to investigate how the combination of dynamic patch habitat attributes, as influenced by stochastic hydroclimatic forcing and landscape heterogeneity, and species traits drive long-term spatiotemporal patterns of wetland patch occupancy for amphibian metapopulations.

Methods

We used a data-model synthesis approach, integrating a long-term record of monitoring for Rana pipiens with simulations using a dynamic stochastic patch occupancy model, which links parsimonious representations of ecohydrological dynamics. Analyzed data were collected over a 20-yr period at the Cottonwood Lake Study Area in the Prairie Pothole Region in North Dakota, USA.

Results

The stability of the mean hydroclimatic forcing during the two decades of amphibian monitoring, and access to dense and diverse wetlands, contributed to persistence of the R. pipiens, despite seasonal spatiotemporal habitat dynamics. The amphibian occupancy pattern simulated for a larger domain surrounding the study area showed that the increased number of wetland habitats dampens variability in patch occupancy, contributing to persistence in the R. pipiens metapopulation.

Conclusions

The proposed framework is useful for understanding how spatial heterogeneity in habitat attributes and temporal variability in hydroclimatic forcing could affect metapopulation persistence in dynamic wetlandscapes. This integrated perspective can then be used to guide monitoring and management strategies based on statistically representative areas of heterogeneous and dynamic wetlandscapes.

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Data availability

We thank D. M. Mushet, M. J. Solensky and their cooperators that collected the field data used in our paper, and make them freely available in the USGS repository. Their conscientious field work made our paper possible. The data that support the findings of this study are publicly available. Data for wetland hydrological variability as well as for R. pipiens counts in the Cottonwood Lakes Study Area are available at the USGS repository (Mushet and Solensky 2018). Data for wetland dimension and location are available at the National Wetland Inventory website (https://www.fws.gov/wetlands), while the rainfall data can be found at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website (https://www.noaa.gov).

Code availability

The codes used to analyze the data and generated the results of the manuscript were all written using MATLAB 2020a, and are available upon request.

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Funding

Lee A. Reith Endowment in the Lyles School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University provided partial financial support for PSCR and LEB. LEB acknowledges support from the Environmental Change Initiative at the University of Notre Dame. PSCR acknowledges support from two NSF Grants: NSF Collaboration Research, RIPS Type 2: Resilience simulation for water, power, and road networks, Award# 1441188; NSF Award# 1354900, “Plant adaptation in variable environments”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lyles School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907-2051, USA

    L. E. Bertassello, A. F. Aubeneau & P. S. C. Rao

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Science, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA

    L. E. Bertassello

  3. Soil and Water Sciences Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    J. W. Jawitz

  4. Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Informatica e Statistica, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, 30172, Venezia-Mestre, Italy

    E. Bertuzzo

  5. Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Padua, 35100, Padua, Italy

    G. Botter & A. Rinaldo

  6. Laboratory of Ecohydrology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    A. Rinaldo

  7. Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907-2051, USA

    J. T. Hoverman

  8. Agronomy Department, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

    P. S. C. Rao

Authors
  1. L. E. Bertassello
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  2. J. W. Jawitz
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  3. E. Bertuzzo
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  4. G. Botter
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  5. A. Rinaldo
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  6. A. F. Aubeneau
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  7. J. T. Hoverman
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  8. P. S. C. Rao
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the conceptualization and implementation of the model. LB and PSCR led the manuscript writing process. All co-authors contributed to expanding the scope of investigations, revision of manuscript drafts, and the final draft submitted for publication.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. S. C. Rao.

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Bertassello, L.E., Jawitz, J.W., Bertuzzo, E. et al. Persistence of amphibian metapopulation occupancy in dynamic wetlandscapes. Landsc Ecol 37, 695–711 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-022-01400-4

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