Responses of anuran communities to rapid urban growth in Shanghai, China

- Urbanization and habitat loss significantly deteriorate the anurans diversity in Shanghai.
- Broad landscape variables surrounding habitat are essential anuran habitat evaluation criteria.
- Aquatic vegetation facilitates anuran abundance and community diversity.

Urbanization affects amphibian communities through habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation of habitat quality. The effects of these changes in habitat at different scales vary depending on the sensitivity of individual species. We assessed the breeding distribution of anurans along an urban-rural gradient in Shanghai, China, a region experiencing intensive urbanization. Our results showed that urban density had a significantly negative influence on the overall anuran abundance and diversity and that the responses of individual species to urbanization varied. Pond age was an overall predictor in models describing the responses of Pelophylax nigromaculatus, Fejervarya multistriata, and M. fissipes and total anuran abundance. The quality of habitat at a pond was also important, and the high abundance of Bufo gargarizans and Pelophylax plancyi was associated with ponds with aquatic vegetation coverage. Urban density showed strong negative effects on B. gargarizans, total anuran abundance, and species richness. The broad-scale landscape variables associated with forests, agricultural fields, and wetlands surrounding breeding ponds have been shown to affect anuran abundance and species richness. The response of individual species, total abundance, and species richness to urbanization reflected differences in their ecological requirements. We quantified the effects of urbanization on frogs in a rapidly urbanizing region, and our results demonstrated that both multi-spatial and temporal variables affect anurans in Shanghai. Our results emphasized the importance of anuran conservation planning in urbanized areas to preserve and/or restore terrestrial habitat and to improve connectivity between ponds and other wetlands.