Collaborative Research: Land-Use Practices and Persistence of Amphibian Populations

在过去的200年里，土地转为农业用途、工业发展和城市扩张大大减少了许多物种的自然栖息地，被认为是对生物多样性的最严重威胁。碎片化将曾经连续的自然栖息地分割成更小的块，这些块通常被不适合维持可生存的种群的区域隔开。本研究的目的是了解在池塘繁殖两栖动物的模型系统中，自然栖息地的破碎化对当地种群和超种群过程的影响。本研究的主要目的是通过实验比较在完全砍伐（有或没有粗木屑）、部分砍伐、边缘和完整的森林栖息地中两栖动物的人口和行为反应。这些结果将有助于更好地了解当地种群成功招募和生存的栖息地要求，以及两栖动物如何在破碎的景观中分散。它将对破碎化导致的两栖动物种群动态的破坏以及如何防止种群下降和灭绝提供强有力的推论。此外，该项目提供的信息对各州自然资源机构、美国农业部林业局和土地管理局制定保护和管理计划至关重要。

Over the past 200 years, conversion of land for agricultural use, industrial development, and urban sprawl has drastically reduced natural habitat for many species and is considered the most serious threat to biological diversity. Fragmentation divides once continuous natural habitats into smaller pieces that are often separated by areas unsuitable to sustain viable populations. The goal of the proposed research is to understand how important local population and metapopulation processes are altered by fragmentation of natural habitats in a model system of pond-breeding amphibians. The primary objectives of the proposed study are to experimentally compare demographic and behavioral responses of amphibians in clear-cut (with and without coarse woody debris), partial-cut, edge, and intact forest habitats around replicated natural breeding ponds. These results will lead to a better understanding of the habitat requirements for successful recruitment and survival of local populations, and how amphibians disperse through fragmented landscapes. It will allow strong inferences about the disruption of metapopulation dynamics in amphibians caused by fragmentation and about how to prevent population declines and extinctions. Further, information from this project is essential to the development of conservation and management plans in state natural resource agencies, the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management.