DOI: 10.5061/dryad.c2fqz6192
title: Local and landscape characteristics shape amphibian communities across production landscapes in the Western Ghats

description: Global tropical forests have been modified and fragmented by commodity
 agroforests, leading to significant alterations in ecological communities.
 Nevertheless, these production landscapes offer secondary habitats that
 support and sustain local biodiversity. In this study, we assess community
 level and species-specific responses of amphibians to land management in
 areca, coffee and rubber, three of the largest commodity
 agroforests in the Western Ghats. A total of 106 agroforests across a
 30,000 km2 landscape were surveyed for amphibians using a
 combination of visual and auditory encounter surveys. We used a Bayesian
 multi-species occupancy modeling framework to examine patterns of species
 richness, beta diversity, dominance structure and individual species
 occupancies. The influence of biogeographic variables such as elevation
 and latitude as well as microhabitat availability of streams, ponds and
 unpaved plantation roads were tested on amphibian species
 occupancy.  Coffee agroforests had the highest species richness
 and lowest dominance when compared to areca and rubber. Beta diversity was
 highest in areca for within agroforest measures. Compared across
 agroforests, coffee had highest beta diversity with areca and rubber. Both
 elevation and latitude showed an overall positive association with
 amphibian occupancy although species-specific responses varied
 considerably.  Microhabitat availability was one of the strongest
 predictors of amphibian occupancy, with mean community response being
 positive with presence of water bodies and roads. Pond presence increased
 species richness per site by 37% (species-specific responses in occupancy
 ranged from -2.7% to 327%). Stream presence alone did not change
 species richness but species-specific response ranged from -59%
 to 273%). Presence of plantation roads also increased species richness by
 21.5% (species-specific response range -82% to 656%). Being
 unpaved with little vehicular traffic, plantation roads seem to provide
 additional habitats for amphibians. Presence of all three microhabitats at
 a site increased species richness by 75%. Our study highlights the
 importance of land management strategies that maintain diverse native
 canopy and freshwater bodies and other microhabitats in sustaining
 amphibian fauna. Market driven land-use change from coffee to
 other agroforest types will have detrimental effects on amphibian
 communities and their long-term sustainability in the Western Ghats.
description: We surveyed 106 unique agroforests (33 areca, 33 coffee, and 40
 rubber). Surveys were conducted between June and September, in the monsoon
 season, when amphibians are most active. Three teams of two trained
 observers conducted systematic, time-constrained searches between 19:00
 and 23:00 hours. The length of the survey varied based on the size of the
 site from 30 minutes to 300 minutes, with an average survey time of 93
 minutes per site. The observers walked at a consistent pace, in a single
 direction, along foot paths, roads, cultivated areas, and water
 bodies. Observers recorded all frogs detected using visual and auditory
 encounter surveys (VES/ AES). Encounter of a species by either method was
 considered as a detection and mid to high canopy species were only
 observed through auditory surveys. There were no spatial constraints set
 on auditory detections. We attempted to identify every individual
 encountered to the species-level based on external morphology and acoustic
 characteristics. This data consists of 26 species which were reliably
 identified in the field.