CIERVO DE LOS PANTANOS NATIONAL PARK: TEN YEARS ANURA AMPHIBIAN COMMUNITIES MONITORING

Abstract

The amphibian global decline is widely documented. However, in Argentina, the status of this group at the local level in several of its protected areas is unknown. In this context, we analyze the richness, relative abundance, diversity, evenness, and proportion of occupied sites in amphibian communities of the Ciervo de los Pantanos National Park (PNCdLP), Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, and we evaluate the trends of these parameters over ten years. We performed visual and auditive nocturnal surveys using bands throughout transects during the spring-summer 2004/05-2014/15 seasons in three environments of the protected area: high grassland (HG), low grassland (LG) and low marsh (LM). We estimated Hill’s diversity of zero, one, and two orders (N0, N1, and N2), abundance (Ab), and evenness (E), as well as the proportion of occupied sites (PSO) for the different species. The temporal trends of the parameters analyzed were evaluated using the Cox-Stuart test. Sixteen anuran species were recorded. Community parameters were significantly different among environments. LM was the most diverse and equitable community. The wetland environments, with greater flooding and water permanence (LM and LG), showed significant differences with HG in almost all the estimated attributes. On the other hand, the analysis of temporal trends showed a significant increase for most of the parameters studied in wetland types. In HG that increase was observed only in Ab and in N0. On the other hand, the PSO exhibited variable results (increases and/or decreases). The species most adapted to sites modified by humans (such as Leptodactylus latinasus and Boana pulchella) expressed increases in more than one type of environment. Except in particular cases, no negative population trends were observed. We conclude that the PNCdLP constitutes a site of great importance for amphibian conservation of the Pampeana and Deltaico-ribereña regions of Argentina.