Amphibian diversity as an implement for Mediterranean wetlands conservation

In this study a set of 25 Mediterranean wetlands located in the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula was studied to identify priority areas for conservation using amphibian assemblages. Two complementary approaches were used, cluster and parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE). Cluster analysis allows to group wetlands based on their amphibian's assemblage similarities. PAE was used to identify areas that concentrate the highest species richness and are unique in terms of amphibian composition. Different criteria were used to select wetlands for conservation: species richness, exclusive and idiosyncratic species occurrences, and the number of wetlands in which such species appeared. In order to know if the selected wetlands for conservation are appropriate to preserve the amphibian community the degree of nestedness among wetlands was calculated. In conclusion, the obtained results showed three different zones from highly conserved to highly degraded ones. One action plan is proposed for shielding nine wetlands (Areal, Castillo, Grande, Orcera, Pedernoso, Perales, Santisteban, Siles and Fernandina) in the Alto Guadalquivir region which would preserve the 100% of amphibian's richness present in the study area.