DOI: 10.5061/dryad.3n5tb2rqf
title: Local and regional diversity of frog communities along an extensive rainforest elevation gradient in Papua New Guinea

description: Rainforests on high tropical mountains are globally important species
 diversity hotspots. We studied amphibians along an extensive rainforest
 elevation gradient on Mt. Wilhelm (4,509 m) in Papua New Guinea. We
 established eight sites at 500 m elevation increments between 200 and
 3,700 m a.s.l. and related their community composition to the known
 species pool of New Guinea island. We recorded 3,390 frogs from 55
 species, which is three times more species than at any local community
 along the elevation gradient. Species diversity peaked at 1,700 m a.s.l.
 for Mt. Wilhelm communities, and at 500–1,100 m a.s.l. in the broader New
 Guinea fauna, probably reflecting increasing speciation and decreasing
 dispersal rates with increasing elevation. The beta diversity between frog
 communities was high and increased with increasing elevation. The change
 in frog community composition across 500 m elevation corresponded to the
 change over 200 km distance within lowland forests. A majority of frog
 species were distributed over narrow &lt;500 m elevational ranges, at
 Mt Wilhelm and the New Guinea fauna more broadly. We did not detect
 Rapoport’s pattern of wider elevation range for species at higher
 elevations than for lowland species, for Mt. Wilhelm communities or the
 New Guinea fauna. The high beta diversity patterns along elevation
 gradients generated by rapid species turnover with narrow elevation ranges
 make frog communities vulnerable to change in the environment, including
 climate change.
description: # Local and regional diversity of frog communities along an extensive
 rainforest elevation gradient in Papua New Guinea Chris Dahl1,2,3\*,
 Stephen J. Richards4, Ismale Basien1, Augustine J. Mungkaje2, and Vojtech
 Novotny5,6 1 New Guinea Binatang Research Center, Madang, Papua New
 Guinea, 2 School of Natural and Physical Sciences, University of Papua New
 Guinea, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 3 National Agriculture Research
 Institute, Southern Regional Center, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 4
 South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5000,
 Australia, 5 Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Ceske
 Budejovice, Czech Republic, 6 Biology Center of the Czech Academy of
 Sciences, Institute of Entomology, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic.
 \*Correspondence: Chris Dahl, Email: cd.rokrok@gmail.com Original Data for
 the paper published in Biotropica, 2023 ## Data Explanation We established
 eight sites at 500 m elevation increments between 200 and 3,700 m a.s.l.
 and related their community composition to the known species pool of New
 Guinea island. We recorded 3,390 frogs from 55 species, which is three
 times more species than at any local community along the elevation
 gradient. Community Data 1. Each species was recorded under a
 morphospecies code. Species with asterisk are not formally described.
 Reproduction: direct terrestrial vs. aquatic Regional Data 2. Regional
 data include known elevation distribution (minimum and maximum elevation
 elevation range and elevation midpoint) for all known frog species from
 the New Guinea mainland. Species are organized alphabetically within
 families.