Dataset Information

Do urban open spaces provide refugia for frogs in urban environments?

ABSTRACT: Urbanization is among the largest threats to wildlife populations through factors such as fragmentation, isolation, and habitat destruction. Urban open spaces, such as parks and golf courses, have the potential to provide wildlife with suitable habitat within an urbanized matrix. These refugia may be particularly important for amphibians, which represent one of the most endangered and least vagile vertebrate groups on earth. During the spring and summer of 2018, we conducted surveys to determine the presence of anurans at 51 wetland sites within the Piedmont ecoregion of South Carolina. Nearly one-third of these wetlands were located within urban open spaces, one-third in low development areas, and one-third in highly developed areas. Impervious surface and total road length surrounding the wetlands were measured at two scales, a core habitat scale (300 m) and average maximum migration scale (750 m), and we measured several within-wetland habitat variables. Urban Open Space wetlands had levels of surrounding impervious surface similar to High Urbanization wetlands at the larger scale and were intermediate between Low and High Urbanization wetlands at the smaller scale. The total length of road segments occurring within buffers (at both scales) surrounding our study wetlands was higher for Urban Open Space compared to Low and High Urbanization sites. Among the within-wetland variables measured, Low Urbanization sites had higher canopy cover and were more likely to have a terrestrial buffer zone relative to the other categories. Species richness decreased significantly as total road length increased among all wetlands. Wetland category was not a significant driver explaining species richness, but ?-diversity was more variable among Urban Open Space wetlands than either Low or High Urbanization wetlands. Urban Open Space wetlands did not appear to increase suitability for anurans relative to High Urbanization wetlands. Urban Open Space wetlands had higher variability in species composition, which was perhaps attributable to the diversity among sites represented in the Urban Open Space category.

SUBMITTER: Hutto D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7822500 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Do urban open spaces provide refugia for frogs in urban environments?

Hutto David D Barrett Kyle K

PloS one 20210122 1

Urbanization is among the largest threats to wildlife populations through factors such as fragmentation, isolation, and habitat destruction. Urban open spaces, such as parks and golf courses, have the potential to provide wildlife with suitable habitat within an urbanized matrix. These refugia may be particularly important for amphibians, which represent one of the most endangered and least vagile vertebrate groups on earth. During the spring and summer of 2018, we conducted surveys to determine ...[more]

PMID: 33481837

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Project description:BackgroundUrban green spaces are important for human health, but they may expose visitors to tick-borne diseases. This not only presents a potential public health challenge but also undermines the expected public health gains from urban green spaces. The aim of this study is to assess the public health risk of tick-borne diseases in an urban green space used for recreation in Stockholm, Sweden.MethodsWe used a mixed method approach identifying both the magnitude of the tick hazard and the extent of the human exposure to tick-borne diseases. At six entry points to an urban green space, we sampled ticks and documented microhabitat conditions from five randomly assigned 2 m × 2 m plots. Surrounding habitat data was analyzed using geographical information system (GIS). Nymphs and adult ticks were tested for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and Anaplasma phagocytophilum using TaqMan qPCR. Positive B. burgdorferi (s.l.) ticks were further analyzed by nested PCR amplification and sequence analysis. Population census data and visitor count data were used to estimate the degree of human exposure to tick-borne diseases. To further understand the degree to which visitors get in contact with infected ticks we also conducted interviews with visitors to green spaces.ResultsHigh tick densities were commonly found in humid broadleaved forest with low field vegetation. High pathogen prevalence was significantly correlated with increasing proportions of artificial areas. Integrating the tick hazard with human exposure we found that the public health risk of tick-borne diseases was moderate to high at most of the studied entry points. Many of the visitors frequently used urban green spaces. Walking was the most common activity, but visitors also engaged in activities with higher risk for tick encounters. Individual protective measures were connected to specific recreational activities such as picking berries or mushrooms.ConclusionsThe number of visitors can be combined with tick inventory data and molecular analyses of pathogen prevalence to make crude estimations of the public health risk of tick-borne diseases in urban green spaces. The risk of encountering infected ticks is omnipresent during recreational activities in urban green spaces, highlighting the need for public health campaigns to reduce the risk of tick-borne diseases.

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Do urban open spaces provide refugia for frogs in urban environments?

Publications

Do urban open spaces provide refugia for frogs in urban environments?

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