Breeding habitat influences abundance and body condition of rice frog (Fejervarya multistriata) in agricultural landscape of Shanghai, China

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Amphibians are threatened by the intensification of agriculture throughout the world. Several studies have considered the morphology of animals to be an indicator of the health of a population, but differences in anuran morphology (especially body condition) in different breeding habitats in agricultural landscapes remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated differences in the abundance and morphology of the rice frog (Fejervarya multistriata) in three waterbody types (ten farmland irrigation ditches, ten fruit forest drainage ditches, and ten lotus ponds) in agricultural landscapes in Shanghai, China. We sampled the snout–vent length, body mass, and body condition index for 206 individual rice frogs from the three types of waterbody. Our results showed that the abundance of rice frogs was higher in farmland irrigation ditches than in the other two habitats, whereas the snout–vent length, body mass, and body condition index of rice frogs were lower in farmland irrigation ditches than in the other two habitats. Our results suggest that breeding habitats in agricultural landscapes have different effects on rice frog abundance and morphology, and that constructing diverse waterbodies (other than farmland irrigation ditches) in the same agricultural landscape might benefit the condition of rice frogs.