{"id":20954,"date":"2015-02-09T15:30:17","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T19:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/?p=20954"},"modified":"2021-11-10T16:41:33","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T20:41:33","slug":"extreme-rains-drop-species-abundance-diversity-tropical-frogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/extreme-rains-drop-species-abundance-diversity-tropical-frogs.htm","title":{"rendered":"Extreme Rains Drop Species Abundance, Diversity Of Tropical Frogs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Even though tropical frogs live in warm, damp climates, scientists at the University of New Mexico have found that too much rain may not be a good thing for some species.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers joined forces with others at the University of Costa Rica to study the effects of rain on tropical frogs that live in the leaf litter. Their study, coinciding with an extreme La Ni\u00f1a effect that stretched from 2010 to 2012, found that species diversity and abundance of the leaf litter frogs went down dramatically when the rains came. Conversely, the years before the strong La Ni\u00f1a began saw much better numbers for the frogs.<\/p>\n<p>The findings are important because intense El Ni\u00f1o and La Ni\u00f1a events are expected to increase with global climate change, and the survival of similar species may be hurt by all the excess rain. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf these extreme events become too common, we may be looking at a new norm of higher frequency climatic disturbance,\u201d said Mason Ryan, a doctoral student in biology at the University of New Mexico and the study\u2019s lead author. \u201cIf litter frog populations truly are relatively stable under average years, increased frequency of extreme population fluctuations from extreme climatic events may cause problems for some of these species in the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The species are similar to moisture-loving, aquatic tropical frogs with the exception that they do not rely on water for breeding. And so it was surprising to researchers when they found that the frogs are troubled by rain.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20948\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20948\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/tropical_frogs_site.jpg\" alt=\"UNM Tropical Biology students sampling a leaf litter plot along with their mascot, the stuffed frog in the tree. (Credit: Mason Ryan)\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" class=\"size-full wp-image-20948\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/tropical_frogs_site.jpg 600w, https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/tropical_frogs_site-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-20948\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">UNM Tropical Biology students sampling a leaf litter plot along with their mascot, the stuffed frog in the tree. (Credit: Mason Ryan)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Researchers set up 10 leaf-litter plots, each about 8 meters square, using PVC pipe for posts and sectioned off with strings. They studied changes in depth of leaf litter, number of tree saplings and the diameter of trees measured at just below 5 feet above ground. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cTropical leaf litter is a fascinating and complex environment. It is filled with frogs, lizards, snakes, spiders, ants, beetles, and many other organisms,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cAll of these organisms are interacting in someway or another.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sampling the amphibians themselves was more clear-cut, as scientists got on their hands and knees to remove leaf litter and place it on sheets. When frogs were found, they were placed in containers and held there until the plot survey was complete. At that point, Ryan identified and recorded the species type and number of each frog found.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn general, little is known about the leaf litter frogs of tropical forests despite it being the most common habitat. On a personal note, I love the brown, non-charismatic frogs of the leaf litter. They can be very abundant, and in other systems very species-rich,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cThe abundance and diversity of the litter frogs makes them very important ecologically because they provide an important link in nutrient flows in forests.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In future studies, Ryan would like to look into that nutrient link. But for now, he notes that this study\u2019s findings \u2014 amassed by himself and some 60 other researchers \u2014 were completely unexpected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were very surprised by our findings. We found dramatic declines in species abundances and a decrease in diversity during the La Ni\u00f1a,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cMost surprising though was how fast the species diversity increased after the La Ni\u00f1a when rainfall amounts returned to \u2018normal.\u2019 Within 12 months, diversity and species abundances returned to the pre-La Ni\u00f1a levels.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There was one exception to that rebound. The most common frog species before the rain increases had dropped to the second spot in terms of species rank after levels went back to normal, says Ryan. <\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Top image:\u00a0Pristimantis cruentus, one of the study species. (Credit: Mason Ryan)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers at University of New Mexico and University of Costa Rica sample leaf-litter plots during La Ni\u00f1a, find negative impacts to tropical frog species<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":20949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,5],"tags":[13,60,291,156],"class_list":["post-20954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-atmosphere","category-featured-articles","tag-biology","tag-featured","tag-frogs","tag-rain"],"remote_post_permalink":false,"remote_post_featured_image":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Extreme Rains Drop Species Abundance, Diversity Of Tropical Frogs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Researchers at University of New Mexico and University of Costa Rica sample leaf-litter plots during La Ni\u00f1a, find negative impacts to tropical frog species\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/extreme-rains-drop-species-abundance-diversity-tropical-frogs.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Extreme Rains Drop Species Abundance, Diversity Of Tropical Frogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Researchers at University of New Mexico and University of Costa Rica sample leaf-litter plots during La Ni\u00f1a, find negative impacts to tropical frog species\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/extreme-rains-drop-species-abundance-diversity-tropical-frogs.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Environmental Monitor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-09T19:30:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-10T20:41:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/tropical_frogs.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"420\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"470\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Daniel Kelly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Kelly\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/extreme-rains-drop-species-abundance-diversity-tropical-frogs.htm#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/extreme-rains-drop-species-abundance-diversity-tropical-frogs.htm\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Kelly\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/847643ff7cab0510299c8b13d204eac7\"},\"headline\":\"Extreme Rains Drop Species Abundance, Diversity Of Tropical Frogs\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-09T19:30:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-10T20:41:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/extreme-rains-drop-species-abundance-diversity-tropical-frogs.htm\"},\"wordCount\":638,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/extreme-rains-drop-species-abundance-diversity-tropical-frogs.htm#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/02\\\/tropical_frogs.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"biology\",\"featured\",\"frogs\",\"rain\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Earth &amp; 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