Abstract
Studies on frogs exploiting subterranean environments are extremely scarce, as these Amphibians are usually considered accidental in these environments. However, according to recent studies, some anurans actively select subterranean environments on the basis of specific environmental features, and thus are able to inhabit these environments throughout the year. We present the first study on the abundance and spatial use of the Italian stream frog, Ranaitalica, in subterranean environments. We monthly collected data from 66 cave sectors during a whole year (2013), recording > 120 detections of R.italica. Frogs were more frequently found close to the cave entrance, without significant differences between age classes or sexes. Adults generally were observed being higher up along cave walls compared to juveniles. Frogs abundance was higher in areas showing specific environmental features, such as warm temperature, low incident light and the presence of potential prey. Ranaitalica likely occupies subterranean areas characterized by a combination of microclimatic suitability and prey availability.
Highlights
We present the first study on the abundance and spatial use of the Italian stream frog, Rana italica, in subterranean environments
Frogs have been usually considered as an accidental presence in subterranean environments (Bressi and Dolce 1999), but recently many authors showed that some Anuran species can be quite common in these sites, selecting caves with specific environmental features (Köhler et al 2010, Rosa and Penado 2013, Biswas 2014, Lunghi et al 2014, Matavelli et al 2015)
Close to the surface, the inner microclimate is mostly affected by external environmental conditions, and such peculiarity can promote the abundance of troglophile species (Manenti et al 2015, Lunghi et al 2017)
Summary
Several amphibian species are known to regularly exploit subterranean environments but, besides numerous reports concerning several salamanders species (Niemiller and Miller 2007, Pierce et al 2014, Manenti et al 2017, Soares et al 2017, Vörös et al 2017), only a few species of frogs and toads (Anura) are known to exploit these environments (Fenolio et al 2005, Köhler et al 2010, Lunghi et al 2014, Koller 2017). Frogs have been usually considered as an accidental presence in subterranean environments (Bressi and Dolce 1999), but recently many authors showed that some Anuran species can be quite common in these sites, selecting caves with specific environmental features (Köhler et al 2010, Rosa and Penado 2013, Biswas 2014, Lunghi et al 2014, Matavelli et al 2015). With this study we aim to provide the first assessment of R. italica in subterranean environments, mostly focusing on population abundance and habitat use
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