Title

Abstract

Introduction

The rapid human population growth in the past yeas has dramatically influenced

the planet’s landscape . Much of the natural areas have been converted to many human

land-use practices, such as agricultural, industrial, and urban areas . If some undeveloped

land has not been transformed into various land uses, often has been divided into

fragments which result, for example, in the reduction of the habitat area for many species

. This change in the world’s surface has caused drastic changes in biodiversity. In the US,

urbanization is one of th leading causes of land use conversion and it has been cited as

one of the primary causes as a major cause of species endangerment . Since 1998 habitat

destruction and degradation has been known as the most pervasive threat to biodiversity

to all species groups . The fragmentation and loss of natural habitat areas have been

recognized as key causes of declining biological diversity worldwide . For example

discovered that 5-20% of the extinctions across all species have been human driven. The

change in biodiversity richness and structure has altered ecosystem services, in turn,

threatening and endangering all groups of species and their habitat . Future global

scenarios of biodiversity have been developed using several determinants of which

changes in land use resulted in the one that will have the largest effect on terrestrial

ecosystems .

Wetlands are among the most important ecosystems on Earth, especially for

providing necessary habitat for wildlife . Unfortunately, humans have contributed to the

deterioration of wetlands through land development, agriculture, water pollution, and

introduction of invasive species making them one of the most impacted ecosystems by

urbanization. In the United States, urban and rural development accounted for an

estimated 61% of the net freshwater wetlands lost between 1998 and 2004 and in all

surveyed watersheds urbanization may be responsible for up to 58% of total wetland loss

in the United States . Besides driving the disappearance of wetlands, urbanization can

also influence the surrounding habitat of the wetlands leading to alterations in the

hydrology and water quality . Seasonally-flooded wetlands (SFW) are an example of the

wetlands currently disappearing even being the most numerous type of wetlands in many

natural landscapes . These negative effects and influences are among the reasons to for

the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment to conclude that the decline of wetlands is one of

the reasons reported to have worsen the condition of biodiversity of inland waters .

Of all the taxa, amphibians are one of the taxonomic groups that have been

experiencing recent and worldwide population declines and extinctions . It was reported

that amphibians are more threatened and are declining more rapidly that either birds or

mammals with 43%of the populations experiencing declines and more than 32%

threatened . These declines have been observed in many parts of the world, primarily in

natural and protected landscapes, after invasions of exotics species, and after agricultural

conversion of habitats . Among many factors, scientists have identified that the major

threat to amphibian population is the loss and the fragmentation of their habitat .

Even with many of the amphibian populations undergoing declines and

extinctions, they are one of he groups the were understudied with respect to their threat

status . Amphibians were among the group of the animals most poorly studied accounting

for only 4% of the effects of habitat fragmentation . Though urban systems driving many
environmental changes on amphibian populations, fewer than 6% of the 217 studies

published in a conservation journal described work conducted in urban areas or with

some sort of substantial human development .

Amphibians are common organisms that utilize wetlands extensively. Their

diphase lifecycle, unique physiological characteristics, and their small ranges allow

scientists to use them as bioindicators of environmental stressors on local conditions .

Specifically, pond-breeding amphibians have adapted to live in habitats that provide for

them breeding, dispersal, foraging, and reproducing areas. Special attention has to be

drawn to these amphibians because they can serve as indicators of environmental health

in both terrestrial and aquatic areas and have an important role in aquatic and terrestrial

ecosystem dynamics .

Small SFW often have higher species diversity for many amphibians, than either

larger, ephemeral, or permanent ponds and serve as important breeding sites for

amphibians producing more metamorphs . Also, because of their small size and

seasonality, SFW tend to lack of fish and this can result in higher amphibian species

richness . Unfortunately, more than 44% of the all of the freshwater wetland losses were

wetlands less than 0.4 ha , which the majority may have been SFW. The alarming rate at

which pond-breeding amphibians are losing their breeding habitat is bound to have dire

consequences on the populations.

In order to develop better conservation plans we need to start to understand the

important factors that will lead proper preservation of the habitat required by these

sensitive species. It is important to understand the effects of land use change that convert
natural habitats, altering their size, shape, and spatial arrangement of the habitat types

used by amphibians . Landscape composition is used to quantify the type and amount of

landscape, and landscape configuration is the measurement of the spatial arrangement of

the type of landscape in an area. Composition is as important as configuration,

particularly important to amphibians because they not only need the aquatic or the

terrestrial habitat to survive; they require that these two types are spatially arranged so

that they are connected to each other. Statistical frameworks can be built with these

measurements allowing scientists figure out the patterns of the habitat present where

animals inhabit. These models can have the ability to serve as predictive models for

predicting species accorss wetlands. These models have the ability to predict the

distribution probabilities using information from the observed associations between and

environmental factors. By determining the status and future scenarios of the landscape

that allows the survival of the amphibians, will help us understand their population

dynamics and apply the results to conservation efforts and land use planning.