Study
says pachyderm puddles are amphibian condos
Date: June 4, 2019
Source: Wildlife Conservation Society
Frogs
need elephants. That's what a new WCS-led study says that looked at the role of
water-filled elephant tracks in providing predator-free breeding grounds and
pathways connecting frog populations.
Publishing
in the journal Mammalia, the researchers found that rain-filled tracks of
Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) were filled with frog egg masses and
tadpoles. The tracks can persist for a year or more and provide temporary
habitat during the dry season where alternate sites are unavailable. Trackways
could also function as "stepping stones" that connect frog
populations.
This
study was made available online in September 2018 ahead of final publication in
print in May 2019.
The
researchers made their observations in Myanmar's Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary.
Elephants
are widely recognized as "ecosystem engineers," where they
extensively modify vegetation through browsing, trampling, and seed dispersal,
and convert large amounts of plant biomass into dung that is an important
nutrient input for terrestrial and aquatic systems. At smaller scales, local
plant species richness is enhanced when elephants open gaps in the forest
canopy, browsing damage to trees creates refuges for small vertebrates (lizards
and small mammals), and dung piles provide food for a diversity of beetles.
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