Impact of land reclamation and agricultural water regime on the distribution and conservation status of the endangered Dryophytes suweonensis.

ABSTRACT: Knowledge about the distribution and habitat preferences of a species is critical for its conservation. The Suweon Treefrog (Dryophytes suweonensis) is an endangered species endemic to the Republic of Korea. We conducted surveys from 2014 to 2016 at 890 potentially suitable sites across the entire range of the species in South Korea. We then assessed whether D. suweonensis was found in the current and ancestral predicted ranges, reclaimed and protected areas, and how the presence of agricultural floodwater affected its occurrence. Our results describe a 120 km increase in the southernmost known distribution of the species, and the absence of the species at lower latitudes. We then demonstrate a putative constriction on the species ancestral range due to urban encroachment, an

SUBMITTER: Borzee A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5631092 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature