Disassembly and functional diversity change in amphibian communities in degraded habitats in Indonesia (Sumatra)

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In order to understand the determinants of biodiversity patterns, it is essential to identify the spatial and temporal distribution of animal communities and the driving processes involved in the assembly of communities. Today’s challenge is to determine rules and processes that describe the disassembly of species in disturbed habitats, i.e., the sensitivity of species to disturbances as well as the reaction of entire communities. This project addresses the effects of anthropogenic habitat disturbance (selective logging, agric. use) on speciesrich amphibian communities in Indonesia (Sumatra). The approach integrates the analysis of diversity at the level of species, function, and communities. This study examines local patterns of diversity, elucidates processes that lead to these patterns, and makes predictions about amphibian diversity change after disturbance. These goals will be achieved by applying a range of ecological field methods with emphasis on identifying functional biodiversity components. Field work will be combined with state-of-the-art lab methods (DNA barcoding, stable isotope analyses). Merely studying taxonomic units (i.e., species) and simple species richness will be insufficient to develop predictions. Rather, the ecological traits of species and their diversity (i.e., functional diversity) are suited to reveal biodiversity patterns and ultimately infer the ecological processes that maintain diversity or are responsible for its loss, respectively. The project is networking with two collaborative projects on the effects of habitat disturbances on amphibian communities in the tropics (forest fragmentation, Madagascar; selective logging, Guyana) in order to potentially draw generalized conclusions.