Topic
Anaxyrus debilis
About: Anaxyrus debilis is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3 publications have been published within this topic receiving 21 citations. The topic is also known as: Anaxyrus debilis.
Papers
TL;DR: Evidence that shrub encroachment has had negative impacts on the amphibian community in the Chihuahuan Desert and may even have had positive effects on anurans, especially A. cognatus and Sp.
Abstract: Understanding amphibian habitat associations allows us to assess the impacts of environmental change on amphibian populations. We studied the habitat associations of five anurans in the Chihuahuan Desert of southern New Mexico, USA. We used amphibian call surveys at 36 ephemeral water bodies and recorded an index of abundance for each species. We used GIS to identify vegetation communities (e.g., creosote bush, grassland, mesquite) within a buffer zone around each water site. We used ordinal logistic regression, Akaike's information criterion (AICc), and canonical correspondence analysis to elucidate relationships between an index of anuran abundance and habitat variables. Creosote bush, mesquite, and grasses dominate the landscape in our study region. We detected Anaxyrus debilis (Green Toad) and Spea multiplicata (New Mexico Spadefoot Toad) most frequently (>70% of water bodies observed). Anaxyrus cognatus (Great Plains Toad), Scaphiopus couchii (Couch's Spadefoot Toad), and Spea bombifrons (Pl...
15 citations
TL;DR: The diets of these 3 species generally fit the previous understanding of the diets of bufonids, and only prey length was correlated with toad head width and SVL.
Abstract: . We examined the diets of 3 species of bufonids from northern Mexico (Anaxyrus debilis, Anaxyrus punctatus, and lncilius mazatlanensis) with the objective of better understanding the diets of amphibians in this region of Mexico, which is currently undergoing environmental change. The diet of A. debilis was numerically and volumetrically dominated by termites, followed by ants. In A. debilis, some aspects of prey size were correlated with toad head width but were not related to head length or body size (i.e., snout—vent length [SVL]). Ants were numerically the most important prey item in the diet of A. punctatus, but beetles were volumetrically the most important prey item. Prey size was not related to toad head size or body size in A. punctatus. The diet of I. mazatlanensis numerically consisted of ants, beetles, and bugs; however, volumetrically, its diet was dominated by beetles. In I. mazatlanensis, only prey length was correlated with toad head width and SVL. The diets of these 3 species gene...
7 citations
TL;DR: Immediate survey after rain events and the combination of call and visual surveys are critical to increase accuracy when studying desert anuran detectability, and incorporating visual surveys greatly improved occupancy estimates for southwestern desert anurans.
Abstract: One-third of known amphibian populations have become extinct, with habitat loss and degradation being the leading causes in the United States. Site occupancy has been suggested as one of the most effective state variables in describing population declines. The objectives of this study were to determine occupancy estimates of five southwestern desert anurans, accounting for imperfect detection, and to determine the main factors impacting detection. We conducted call and visual surveys on three consecutive nights after rain events at 21 breeding sites for Mexican Spadefoot (Spea multiplicata), Plains Spadefoot (Spea bombifrons), Couch's Spadefoot (Scaphiopus couchii), Great Plains Toad (Anaxyrus cognatus), and Green Toad (Anaxyrus debilis). We used occupancy modeling to estimate the proportion of sites occupied for all species detected during the sampling period. Spea multiplicata and A. debilis were most prevalent, followed by A. cognatus, Sp. bombifrons, and Sc. couchii, respectively. In additi...
3 citations
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 2 |
| 2011 | 1 |