How do we share food? Feeding of four amphibian species from an aquatic habitat in south–western Romania

S Ferenţi,S.-D Covaciu–Marcov,I Sas–Kovács,H V Bogdan,A.-S Cicort–Lucaciu,O Gaceu

doi:10.32800/abc.2013.36.0089

Abstract

The feeding of four amphibian species (Triturus cristatus, Lissotriton vulgaris, Bombina variegata, Pelophylax ridibundus) was studied in 2011, in south–western Romania. The diet of the newts was uniform and mostly composed of aquatic preys The diet of the anurans was more diversified, comprising more prey taxa, mostly terrestrial. The trophic niches of the two newt species overlapped highly but differed from those of the anurans. The trophic niches of the anurans differed from one another. The differences among the four species’ diets were determined by the use of different trophic resources, originating from different environments, and by their different sizes. The newts’ diet was less diversified because the aquatic habitat was small and poor in trophic availability. The anurans used the aquatic habitat as a base from where they captured terrestrial preys in the surrounding terrestrial environment.

Highlights

Small, isolated wetlands are extremely important ecologically but are among the most threatened ecosystems
A declining group due to multiple causes (e.g. Stuart et al, 2004; Collins, 2010), it is important to maintain a high diversity of aquatic habitats at a small spatial scale (e.g. Hartel, 2008; Hartel et al, 2011)
Several papers about the feeding of some amphibian species have been published from Romania (e.g. Aszalos et al, 2005; Balint et al, 2010; Cicort–Lucaciu et al, 2005, 2007a, 2007b, 2011; Cogalniceanu et al 2000; Covaciu–Marcov et al, 2010a, 2010b, 2010c, 2011, 2012; Dobre et al, 2007; Kovacs et al, 2007; Sas et al, 2009; Iftime & Iftime, 2011), but most have been from the north–western part of the country

Summary

Introduction

Small, isolated wetlands are extremely important ecologically but are among the most threatened ecosystems (see Pitt et al, 2012). Several papers about the feeding of some amphibian species have been published from Romania (e.g. Aszalos et al, 2005; Balint et al, 2010; Cicort–Lucaciu et al, 2005, 2007a, 2007b, 2011; Cogalniceanu et al 2000; Covaciu–Marcov et al, 2010a, 2010b, 2010c, 2011, 2012; Dobre et al, 2007; Kovacs et al, 2007; Sas et al, 2009; Iftime & Iftime, 2011), but most have been from the north–western part of the country. There are few studies on the feeding of more amphibian species in relation to the habitat and with the way they use its resources This study was performed to determine the food composition of four amphibian species [Triturus cristatus (Laurenti, 1768), Lissotriton vulgaris (Linnaeus, 1758), Bombina variegata (Linnaeus 1758) and Pelophylax ridibundus (Pallas 1771)] in an aquatic habitat in south–western Romania, to establish the differences between them, and to compare the trophic niches and the way the trophic resources are exploited

Material and methods

Results

Discussion

19 VII 2011