Diversity of Amphibian Communities In Four Vegetation Types of Hidalgo State, Mexico

Abstract

The use of statistical tools to assess species richness in different biological groups has increased considerably in the recent years. In this context, during the wet and dry seasons of 2007 and 2008 (dry only), we evaluated the amphibian species richness (alpha and beta diversity) in four vegetation types: cloud forest (CF), pine-oak forest (POF), xeric scrub (XS), and tropical evergreen forest (TEF) in Hidalgo state, Mexico. In this study, we sampled 16 sites in 9 months. The total species number recorded in the four vegetation types was 31. The CF was the vegetation type with the highest number of species. In contrast, the POF and the XS had the lowest alpha diversity. The POF had the highest number of exclusive species and the XS the lowest. The highest value of complementarity (beta diversity) was between the XS and the TEF. Our data reveals the conservation status of amphibian populations in different vegetation types in Hidalgo, and the high variation in species richness in each vegetation community suggests species habitat quality.