Spatial and seasonal dynamics of amphibians from shallows and forests in urban and Peri-urban areas of Daloa (Ivory Coast, West Africa)

Abstract

The disappearance of forests and biodiversity in Côte d'Ivoire is also due to the expansion of urban areas. This expansion was carried out without any concern for the preservation or restoration of the natural resources. The Daloa area, in addition to the forest relics, contains shallows, important for agriculture. These shallows were mostly landing sites for drainage water from various horizons. To assess the conservation status of these environments, amphibians, due to their high sensitivity to changes in environmental conditions, were used to assess the biotic integrity of the ecosystems. Thus, daytime and night-time sampling were carried out in urban, peri-urban shallows and peri-urban forests. These acoustic, visual and capture samplings lasted 12 months and revealed the presence of 20 amphibian species. Nineteen species were found in urban shallows, peri-urban forests and 17 species in peri-urban shallows respectively. There was no significant difference between the species richness of the different habitats (Kruskal-Wallis test, p > 0.05). Furthermore, in the rainy season, amphibian diversity was higher in peri-urban forests than in shallows. In addition, over the whole study area, Amphibian abundance was higher in the rainy season than in the dry season. Also, the most frequent species in this area was Ptychadena mascareniensis. Finally, in the rainy season, the distribution of Amphibians in peri-urban forests was more equitable than that of dry season and in other sites.