Too wet for frogs: changes in a tropical leaf litter community coincide with La Nina
(2015) In Ecosphere 6(1). p.4-4- Abstract
- Extreme climatic events such as the El Nino Southern Oscillation profoundly affect many plants and animals, including amphibians, which are strongly negatively affected by drought conditions. How amphibians respond to exceptionally high precipitation as observed in La Nina events, however, remains unclear. We document the correlation between the exceedingly wet 2010-2012 La Nina and community-level changes in a leaf litter frog assemblage in Costa Rica. Relative abundances of species shifted, diversity and plot occupancy decreased, and community composition became homogenized with the onset of La Nina. These aspects remained altered for over 20 months but rebounded to pre-La Nina levels after approximately 12 months. We hypothesize that... (More)
- Extreme climatic events such as the El Nino Southern Oscillation profoundly affect many plants and animals, including amphibians, which are strongly negatively affected by drought conditions. How amphibians respond to exceptionally high precipitation as observed in La Nina events, however, remains unclear. We document the correlation between the exceedingly wet 2010-2012 La Nina and community-level changes in a leaf litter frog assemblage in Costa Rica. Relative abundances of species shifted, diversity and plot occupancy decreased, and community composition became homogenized with the onset of La Nina. These aspects remained altered for over 20 months but rebounded to pre-La Nina levels after approximately 12 months. We hypothesize that complex ecological cascades associated with excess moisture caused short-term declines in abundances of species and associated changes in community structure. If additional stressors such as disease or habitat loss are not co-occurring, frog communities can rapidly recover to pre-disturbance levels following severe climatic events. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/5300296
- author
- Ryan, Mason J. ; Scott, Norman J. ; Cook, Joseph A. ; Willink, Beatriz LU ; Chaves, Gerardo ; Bolanos, Federico ; Garcia-Rodriguez, Adrian ; Latella, Ian M. and Koerner, Sally E.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- community, diversity, ENSO, leaf litter, rainfall, tropics
- in
- Ecosphere
- volume
- 6
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 4 - 4
- publisher
- Ecological Society of America
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000350440400004
- scopus:84922066871
- ISSN
- 2150-8925
- DOI
- 10.1890/ES14-00352.1
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- fb2dea7d-9f7d-4cff-a12b-f91d8b7dfacf (old id 5300296)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:19:18
- date last changed
- 2022-03-29 06:46:39
@article{fb2dea7d-9f7d-4cff-a12b-f91d8b7dfacf,
abstract = {{Extreme climatic events such as the El Nino Southern Oscillation profoundly affect many plants and animals, including amphibians, which are strongly negatively affected by drought conditions. How amphibians respond to exceptionally high precipitation as observed in La Nina events, however, remains unclear. We document the correlation between the exceedingly wet 2010-2012 La Nina and community-level changes in a leaf litter frog assemblage in Costa Rica. Relative abundances of species shifted, diversity and plot occupancy decreased, and community composition became homogenized with the onset of La Nina. These aspects remained altered for over 20 months but rebounded to pre-La Nina levels after approximately 12 months. We hypothesize that complex ecological cascades associated with excess moisture caused short-term declines in abundances of species and associated changes in community structure. If additional stressors such as disease or habitat loss are not co-occurring, frog communities can rapidly recover to pre-disturbance levels following severe climatic events.}},
author = {{Ryan, Mason J. and Scott, Norman J. and Cook, Joseph A. and Willink, Beatriz and Chaves, Gerardo and Bolanos, Federico and Garcia-Rodriguez, Adrian and Latella, Ian M. and Koerner, Sally E.}},
issn = {{2150-8925}},
keywords = {{community; diversity; ENSO; leaf litter; rainfall; tropics}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{4--4}},
publisher = {{Ecological Society of America}},
series = {{Ecosphere}},
title = {{Too wet for frogs: changes in a tropical leaf litter community coincide with La Nina}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00352.1}},
doi = {{10.1890/ES14-00352.1}},
volume = {{6}},
year = {{2015}},
}