Stormwater wetlands can function as ecological traps for urban frogs

M Sievers; KM Parris; SE Swearer; R Hale

Journal article

Stormwater wetlands can function as ecological traps for urban frogs

M Sievers, KM Parris, SE Swearer, R Hale

Ecological Applications | WILEY | Published : 2018

DOI: 10.1002/eap.1714

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Abstract

Around cities, natural wetlands are rapidly being destroyed and replaced with wetlands constructed to treat stormwater. Although the intended purpose of these wetlands is to manage urban stormwater, they are inhabited by wildlife that might be exposed to contaminants. These effects will be exacerbated if animals are unable to differentiate between stormwater treatment wetlands of varying quality and some function as “ecological traps” (i.e., habitats that animals prefer despite fitness being lower than in other habitats). To examine if urban stormwater wetlands can be ecological traps for frogs, we tested if survival, metamorphosis-related measures, and predator avoidance behaviors of frogs ..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Kirsten Parris Author

Related Projects (5)

NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE PROGRAMME (NESP) CLEAR AIR AND URBAN LANDSCAPES (CAUL) HUB

Assessing the ecological costs and benefits of artificial wetlands in urban landscapes

The nature and distribution of wetlands around cities is changing at an unprecedented rate, with artificial wetlands increasingly dominating..

Optimal management of threatened amphibian metapopulations in urbanising landscapes

This project will enable the identification of optimal management strategies for many species threatened by the loss and fragmentation of th..

Optimal management of threatened amphibian metapopulations in urbanising landscapes

This project will enable the identification of optimal management strategies for many species threatened by the loss and fragmentation of th..

Assessing the ecological costs and benefits of artificial wetlands in urban landscapes

The nature and distribution of wetlands around cities is changing at an unprecedented rate, with artificial wetlands increasingly dominating..

Grants

Awarded by Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment

Funding Acknowledgements

We thank M. Arcus, T. Brown, S. Bui, S. Flavell, M. Ioannides, L. Wittick, and H. Wootton for assisting with laboratory and fieldwork and Rhys Coleman and four anonymous reviewers for feedback on the manuscript. We also thank the Centre for Aquatic Pollution Identification and Management (CAPIM) for access to their databases. Research was funded by the Australian Research Council (LP140100343), the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment, Melbourne Water, and the Nature Conservancy and was supported in part by the Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub of the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Program. Research was approved by the University of Melbourne animal ethics committee (1513577.1) and collections were conducted under a DELWP research permit (10007589).