Description of a seminatural habitat of the endangered Suweon treefrog Hyla suweonensis

Abstract

Amphibian populations have been declining worldwide over the last few decades due to causes like habitat modification, climate change, and emergent diseases. Hyla suweonensis, a treefrog species endemic to Korea, has disappeared from much of its historic distributional range. Past studies reported this species to breed exclusively in man-made rice paddies. This study reports the habitat characteristics of a seminatural site for H. suweonensis. Out of 100 sites where H. suweonensis was present, only one was not a rice paddy. This seminatural site was characterized by a network of swamps bordered with forests of willow trees. H. suweonensis individuals located on willow trees called from 0.2 to 1.50 m above ground at the edge of the forest near the swamps. The seminatural site has a large percentage of rice paddies with a very low percentage of urban areas, a feature consistent with findings of a previous study. H. suweonensis was found calling with two other amphibian species. Although extracted from a single site, the information from this study is important for the management and the conservation of the species.