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Diversity of Anurans in Temporary Breeding Grounds at Dharwad, Karnataka, India

Manjunath B. Hosamani, Girish G. Kadadevaru*

Breeding Behaviour and Bioacoustics Lab, Dept of Zoology, Karanatak University Dharwad, -580003, Karnataka, India

Abstract: To record anuran diversity, a study was conducted at eight temporary breeding sites in and around Dharwad (15°26’N 74°58’E), Karnataka, India. For sampling, anuran population, we have used acoustics and visual encounter method. A total of 12 species belonging to four families and eight genera were recorded. The diversity, abundance and relative abundance was highest at site B5 and it was lowest at site B2. Mirohyla ornata was the most abundant species found in all the eight study sites. Hopalobatrachus crassus was the least abundant species. In the pair-wise comparison, beta diversity was highest between the sites B5 and B8 and it was least between the sites B2 and B8. The Jaccard's similarity index was highest between sites B1 and B3, and the minimum similarity was observed at site B8. The study provides a baseline data on anuran assemblage that can be used for evaluating the amphibian status and taking conservation measures to protect the habitat and the species.

Keywords: beta diversity, dominance, relative abundance, similarity index

Received January 01, 2022; Revised January 29, 2022; Accepted February 07, 2022

Citation: Manjunath B. Hosamani, Girish G. Kadadevaru, Diversity of Anurans in Temporary Breeding Grounds at Dharwad, Karnataka, India. Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 10 (2). 44-48. January 2022. doi:10.12691/aees-10-2-2

1. Introduction

In amphibians, breeding grounds are of great importance for reproductive success, and they play a pivotal role in the conservation of species [1,2]. The biotic community of the temporary water pockets is comparatively different from that of the permanent aquatic bodies [3]. The temporary water pools support several groups of animals, but only a few become specialized and develop strong adaptive capabilities to survive in these kinds of environments. The fast colonization rate, short time, and rapid reproduction of these species distinguish them from other species [4]. As temporary water pools are subjected to dryness for most of the year, predators and parasites are less in these, and thus the temporary pools are preferred more for breeding by the anurans. Most amphibians are sensitive to environmental variations and are susceptible to habitat degradation [5,6,7]. Compared to other vertebrates, amphibians are smaller in size with a higher relative abundance that allows them to quantify from a localized area using field techniques [8]. The declines in the amphibian population have been reported from different parts of the world [9,10,11,12]. The single most important cause for the decline is habitat degradation largely due to human activity such as urbanization and land conversion for agricultural use [13]. In India, the reports on the amphibian community in temporary breeding grounds are limited [14]. The present work is undertaken to study the diversity of anurans in temporary breeding grounds at different sites of Dharwad and nearby places. The study generates a baseline data on anuran assemblage that can be used for taking conservation measures.

2. Materials and Methods

A total of 08 breeding grounds were identified at Dharwad and nearby places (15º26’ N 74º58’ E). The survey of anurans on temporary water bodies was carried out between 2016 and 2018 during rainy months. Field observations were made after heavy rains. Breeding grounds were identified based on calling and breeding activity. Each breeding ground consisted of two to eight smaller puddles and pools, nearly 42 puddles were encountered. The puddles size ranged from 2mtrs to 8mtrs (Table 1). The survey work was conducted in all the sites by following standard methods for measuring and monitoring amphibian diversity [6]. At each breeding ground 2-3hrs was dedicated to count the anurans. Both the calling and silent individuals were counted using single man power to avoid overlapping. Weekly 2-3 visits were given during rainy month gradually it was reduced to one visit per week during scanty rains. Anurans were identified based on the call characters and morphological features using available taxonomic keys [15]. All the calculations were performed using PAST 4.06b software. [16].

Table 1. Specifications of Temporary breeding grounds

3. Results

During 17 months survey, a total of 1498 individuals were encountered at 8 temporary breeding grounds. 12 species belonging to 4 families and eight genera were recorded. Family Dicroglossidae and Microhylidae represented with five and four species each respectively, family Bufonidae with two species and one representative from family Rachophoridae (Table 2).

Species, Abundance, and Relative abundance: Highest species were observed at the breeding site B5 where 11 species were recorded followed by site B6 with nine species and least number of four species was recorded at site B8. Abundance and relative abundance was highest at breeding site B5 with 307 individuals and the relative abundance was 20.425% which is followed by B2 with 272 individuals and relative abundance of 18.097%. The breeding site B7 showed least abundance of 101 individuals with a relative abundance of 6.719% (Table 2).

Diversity indices: The breeding site B2 showed a highest Dominance of D=0.3288, followed by B7 with D=0.3455 and the least dominance of D=0.135 was recorded at site B5. Simpson (1-D) was highest at site B5 with 0.865 followed by B1 with 0.7054 and least was recorded at the B2with 0.6259. Shannon diversity index was highest at site B5 with H'=2.176 followed by site B6 where it was H'=1.608 and the least value was observed in site B2 with H'=1.17 (Table 3).

Table 2. The list of anuran species recorded from the temporary breeding grounds during 18 months study

Table 3. Diversity indices of anuran species at different Temporary breeding grounds during study period

Table 4. Beta diversity between temporary breeding grounds sampled during study period. (The highest beta diversity values are represented in bold)

Figure 1. Jaccard's similarity Index observed in different temporary breeding grounds

The pair-wise comparison of beta diversity of the breeding grounds was highest between site B5 and B8 where the value is 1, which mean high diversity. It is followed by sites B4 and B6 with 0.77, and the least diversity of 0.20 was observed between sites B2 and B8 (Table 4). The Jaccard's similarity index was highest between sites B1 and B3 followed by sites B5 and B6 and the site B8 showed the least similarity (Figure 1).

4. Discussion

At temporary pools, anuran acts as health indicators as their population fluctuates with the hydro-period of the pools. They help to maintain the ecosystem by balancing energy transfer from lower trophic levels to the upper. It also helps in structuring the biotic composition and assemblage of the entire system [14,17]. The pond hydroperiod also acts as a primary factor in determining species richness. It strongly affects the community, and many researchers have suggested that hydroperiod positively correlates with species richness [18,19,20,21]. Some research also suggests that a long hydroperiod negatively impacts the occurrence of amphibian species like Epidalea calamita that rely on ephemeral, temporary wetlands characterized by low rates of predation and competition. [22,23]. In our study, breeding grounds B5 and B6 are situated near a larger water body. The site B5 which showed highest number of species, abundance, relative abundance, Shannon diversity and evenness compared to B6.

Small ponds have a high probability of pond drying, and large ponds have a high chance of fish colonization and accumulation of invertebrate predators. Drying and predation may be two mechanisms driving the peak of density and diversity towards intermediate values of pond size [24]. Evenness of the site is decided by the homogeneity of species abundance in a community, a high value of the evenness can be found in samples with high or low species abundance. The low carrying capacity of habitat may limit both the number of species that occupy an environment and species abundance [25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32].

The Beta diversity when compared among the breeding grounds, the site B5 and B8 showed the highest diversity. High species richness is due to high habitat heterogeneity. In the present study at the site B5, highest numbers of puddles were found and it had diverse habitat features compared with other sites that supported highest number of anuran species. Similar observations were reported from Brazil [25,28,33,34,35]. In nature, species occur where ecological requirements are easily met [36]. Several factors determine the distribution of species at a particular place. The narrow-mouthed frog M. ornata and cricket frog M. agricola prefer shallow pools. These frogs were observed in large number in all the study sites. Similar observation was reported in the cricket frogs of the genus Phrynobatrachus [37]. Larger frogs require deep and large water pockets. In the present study, the large sized frog H. tigerinus was reported from site B5 and B6 and other large sized frog H.crassus was restricted to B8. The tree frog Polypedatus maculatus was found in all sites except site B4 and B7 where the habitat lacks bushy vegetation. In the present study, among the nine species, M. ornata was the dominating species found in all the eight sites with an abundance of 526 individuals and relative abundance of 34.99%. M. agricola was the second in position with 524 individuals and 34.97% of relative abundance. H. crassus was the least abundant species restricted to only one breeding site (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Percentage occurrence of Species at different temporary breeding grounds [Hoplobatrachus tigerinus (H_tig), Hoplobatrachus crassus (H_cra), Spaerotheca pashchima (S_pas), Euphylictics cyanophlyctis (E_cyn), Minervarya agricola (Mi_agr), Microhyla ornata (M_orn),Microhyla rubra(M_rub),Uperodon variegata (U_var),Uperodon taprobanica (U_tap), Polypedates maculatus (P_mac), Duttaphrynus melanostictus (D_mel),Duttaphrynus scaber (D_sca)]

5. Conclusion

The study of anuran diversity at temporary breeding sites of Dharwad revealed that the abundance and diversity is different in all eight sites. The species richness, diversity, and abundance were highest at site B5. Though site B2 had good vegetation cover the species richness, abundance, and diversity was least. M. ornata was the dominating species represented with highest number of individuals that are recorded in all the eight study sites. The study provides a baseline data on anuran assemblage that can be used for evaluating the amphibian status and taking conservation measures to protect the habitat and the species.

Acknowledgements

The work was supported by UGC, SAP-II grants. Manjunath Hosamani thanks Karnatak University, Dharwad for awarding University Research Studentship (URS). MH also thanks to all his research colleagues who helped in preparing the manuscripts.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no conflict of interest with respect to authorship and publication of this article.

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