Amphibian communities in small water bodies in the city of Olsztyn

The aims o f the study were determine the effects o f anthropogenic pressure on the species composition and population size of amphibians o f small water bodies in Olsztyn city (NE Poland). The pre­ sence o f 11 amphibian species was noted in 83.5% o f water bodies. The dominants were: the common frog Rana temporaria, the edible frog Rana esculenta, the pool frog Rana lessonae, the common toad Bufo bufo and the moor frog Rana arvalis. The fire-bellied toad Bombina bombina was an influent, while the common newt Triturns vulgaris, the common spadefoot Pelobates fnsciis, the tree frog Hyla arborea, the green toad Bufo viridis and the crested newt Tritimis cristatus were the recedents. The most frequent were “green frogs”, which occur in 71.9% o f water bodies inhabited by amphibians (60.0% o f all water bodies). The species characterized by the lowest occurrence frequency were the tree frog (6.0% and 5.0%, respectively), the green toad (5.4% and 4.5%) and the crested newt (3.6% and 3.0%). In the paper the urban pressure on amphibian communities is widely discussed.

According to Cushman (2006) and Hamer & McDonnell (2008), the degradation, fragmentation and isolation o f ecosystems are the main anthropogenic factors respon sible for the drop in amphibian populations.Intensive urbanization efforts are observed around the world, in particular in Europe (Antrop 2004).This process is one o f the strongest manifestations o f human pressure on the natural environment (Vitousek et al. 1997, McKinney 2002, Miller & Hobbs 2002).
Research results indicate that urbanization exerts a powerful effect on animal habi tats, leading to a drop in species diversity, the domination o f ubiquitous species, popu lation change and behavioral adaptation (Sukopp & W emer 1982, Dickman 1987, Mills et al. 1989, Blair 1996, Markowski 1997, Luniak 1998, M arzluff 2001).
The urban environment is characterized by specific ecological factors, including higher annual temperatures than in the surrounding areas, lower humidity, disrupted structure and chemical composition of soils, chemical contamination, structurally impoverished plant systems, acoustic climate, traffic intensity and a high level o f ecosystem isolation (Karo lewski 1981, Breuste et al. 1998, Zimny 2005).Due to various anthropogenic factors, water bodies and the surrounding terrestrial habitats in urban areas are subject to strong degrada tion, disappearance and isolation.During the reproductive season, amphibians have very specific preferences as regards the size, depth, vegetation cover and water chemistry of aquatic breeding sites (Strijbosch 1979, Beebee 1996, Hamer & McDonnell 2008).
In view o f the global decline in amphibian populations and their species diversity, the adverse impact o f environmental transformations and intensified urbanization, Pasmans et al. (2006) have postulated the need for more in-depth studies analyzing amphi bian populations throughout Europe.The ecology o f amphibian habitats in urban areas o f Central Europe remains weakly researched.The existing batrachofauna inventories cover, among others, the cities o f Brno (Krai et al. 1983), Kraków (Juszczyk 1989, Gu zik et al. 1996), Poznań (Pawłowski 1993), Warszawa (Mazgajska 1996, 1998), Olsztyn (Nowakowski et al. 1998,2008), Wrocław (Kierzkowski & Ogielska 2001) and Zielona Góra (Najbar et al. 2005).In Eódź, only the amphibians o f the Łagiewnicki Forest, si tuated within the city's administrative boundaries, have been evidenced (Stopczyński et al. 2004).The environmental factors determining the species composition and the size o f amphibian populations inhabiting urban water bodies during the reproductive season have not been investigated in detail, and such knowledge is very valuable in classifying breeding sites for conservation purposes.
Olsztyn is a city with a well developed hydrographic network.It features numerous lakes and small, stagnant water bodies, which are subject to typical urban pressure in a rapidly growing city.Olsztyn's water bodies are becoming increasingly isolated as continued efforts are made to expand the local transportation network.
The objectives o f this study were to: 1) characterize the species composition and population size o f amphibians in small water bodies in Olsztyn; 2) determine the effects o f anthropogenic pressure on the structure and size o f amphibian populations.czewo district).The city lies in the center o f the physical and geographic mesoregions o f the Olsztyn Lakeland, a part o f the Masurian Lakeland macroregion (Kondracki 2002), and it occupies the area o f 87.9 km2.The studied physiographic region features a range o f end moraines dating back to the Wiirm glaciation, referred to as the Łyna river lobe, underlain by boulder clay.The local topography is typical o f the region's lake districts with numerous moraine hills, kames, moraine valleys and sinkholes without stream ou tflow.In the north and north-west, Olsztyn is occupied by forests and the Wadąg River valley.There is a predominance o f open areas in the southern and south-eastern parts o f the city.

M a t e r ia l s a n d M e t h o d s
The study was carried out in 1997-1998. All (200) . All (200) o f Olsztyn's small water bodies were surveyed in 1997, while in 1998, only 80 randomly selected bodies were moni tored.Amphibians inhabiting two small lakes with the area o f around 1 ha were not accounted for in this study, and the relevant information was presented in a previous research paper (Nowakowski et al. 1998).
In all surveyed sites, species abundance was determined by waterside surveys and evaluations o f mating calls.Every water body was monitored 3-4 times during the se ason.The presence o f amphibian spawns and larvae was determined in water bodies.Owing to their morphological variation and the uncertainty o f determinations, the pool frog Rcma lessonae Camerano, 1882 and the edible frog Rcma kl.esciilenta Linnaeus, 1758 were classified collectively in the group o f "green frogs'' (Rana esculenta com plex).
Estimation o f the average number o f individuals o f a given species in each water bo dies was delivered based on mid-range values o f the adopted evaluation scale.Numbers o f species abundance in a given season was estimated based on the above values.
The species structure o f amphibian communities in Olsztyn was compared with those in other cities using the hierarchical cluster analysis and the Manhattan distance for binary data.

R e s u l t s
A total o f 200 small water bodies were monitored in Olsztyn in 1997-1998.The presence o f amphibians was noted in 167 water bodies (83.5%), while the remaining 33 bodies (16.5%) were not colonized by amphibian species.73 ecosystems inhabited by amphibians were intermittent water bodies, and the remaining 94 were permanent water bodies with a relatively high water stage.
The most popular taxon in Olsztyn's small water bodies were "green frogs" which were observed in 71.9% o f water bodies inhabited by amphibians (60.0%o f all water bodies).It was followed by the common frog whose presence was determined in 64.1% o f water bodies colonized by amphibians (53.5% o f all water bodies).Less frequent were the common toad (37.2% o f water bodies inhabited by amphibians and 31.0%o f all water bodies), the m oor frog (26.3% and 22.0%, respectively), the European fire-bel lied toad found in 21 water bodies (12.6% and 10.5%, respectively), the common newt noted in 20 water bodies (12.0% and 10.0%, respectively) and the common spadefoot observed in 19 w aterbodies (11.4% and 9.5%, respectively).The species characterized by the lowest occurrence frequency were the tree frog which was reported in 10 water bodies (6.0% and 5.0%, respectively), the green toad found in nine water bodies (5.4% and 4.5%, respectively) and the crested newt reported in six water bodies (3.6% and 3.0%, respectively).
The water bodies situated in dense urban areas comprised five taxa: "green frogs'', the common frog, the green toad and the common toad.Urban areas with low-rise re sidential buildings were the habitat o f four taxa: green frogs, the common frog and the common toad.Municipal parks and forests were dominated by "green frogs" and the common frog.The investigated parks showed a clear dominance o f "green frogs" over the common frog and an abundance o f the common newt and the green toad, which were not noted in mid-forest water bodies.A greater abundance o f the common newt, the tree frog, the common spadefoot and the m oor frog was observed in open areas and in the ecotone between open and afforested areas.The m oor frog was particularly abundant in the ecotone zone.In 1997 the m oor frog and the common frog occurred in a lower numbers compared to 1998.The common newt was found to be the dominant taxon in allotment gardens and in the water bodies o f the ruderal, strongly transformed zone (Table 1).
An average o f two amphibian species per water body was determined (Table 2).No significant variations in the average number o f species were found subject to the type o f the aquatic environment (median test: x2= 11 -524, d f = 7, p = 0.117), although the lowest total number o f species was observed in municipal parks and allotment gardens (Table 1).Water bodies in dense urban areas were inhabited by three to five species, showing the highest average number o f species (Table 2), but the average measure resulted from the small size o f the sample (three water bodies) as well as the fact that mid-field water bodies were included in urban areas relatively recently in reference to the experimental period (after 1995).
Water bodies inhabited by amphibians were colonized by one to nine species.Aqua tic ecosystems with one to three species had more than a 50% share o f all water bodies where amphibians were determined, while habitats featuring four to five species ac counted for 20% o f the studied ecosystems.Very few water bodies were colonized by a higher number o f species (Fig. 3).

D i s c u s s io n
The species composition o f amphibian communities in Olsztyn, comprising a total o f 11 species, is similar to that noted in other large Polish cities, including Białystok (Si wak et al. 2000), Wroclaw (Kierzkowski & Ogielska 2001) and Warszawa (Mazgajska 2008).The greatest differences were observed in respect o f the amphibian communities o f Zielona Góra (Najbar et al. 2005) (Fig. 4).In comparison with the investigated wa ter bodies in Olsztyn, a higher number o f amphibian species was reported in Warsza wa (Mazgajska 2008), Poznań (Pawłowski 1993, as cited by Mazgajska 1996), where Table 1.The num ber o f am phibian species, abundance o f individuals (n) and dom ination (% ) in the w hole comm unity in relation to the location o f studied w ater bodies.Location: 1 -concentrated buildings, 2 -scattered, low buildings, 3 -city parks, 4 -suburban forests, 6 -suburban areas influenced by hum an activity, 7 -suburban areas uninfluenced by hum an activity, 8 -gardens, 9 -areas betw een forest habitat and open habitat.N -num ber o f w ater bodies, n -estim ated num ber o f individuals."G reen frogs" (Rcma esculenta com plex) alw ays include two species: pool frog and edible frog. ) and the marsh frog, in the absence o f the fire-bellied toad and the tree frog.The above differences in species composition relative to Olsztyn can be attributed to the geographic location o f marsh frog and alpine newt populations (Głowaciński & Rafmski 2003), as well as differences in the extinction rate o f habitats colonized by three species that are most sensitive to urbanization: the natterjack toad, the tree frog and the fire-bellied toad.

Location of small water bodies
From among the species reported in the Olsztyn Lakeland, the natterjack toad was not found in Olsztyn.The nearest breeding site o f the species was observed around 5 km east o f the city's limits.The marsh frog, which has not been observed in the Masurian Lakeland to date (Głowaciński & Rafmski 2003), was not reported during the period o f this study.The nearest marsh frog site was found in the Iława Lakeland (Głowaciński & Rafmski 2003) and in the valley o f the Pisa River in the Masurian and Kurpie Plain (J.J. Nowakowski -unpublished data).
Except for Białystok and (probably) Poznań, where the natterjack toad was obser ved in small numbers, the species was not found in the remaining cities.Although the  Similarly to Warszawa (Mazgajska 1996) and Wroclaw (Kierzkowski & Ogielska 2001), green frogs were the dominant taxon in the quantitative structure o f amphibian communities in Olsztyn.Green frogs were observed in all identified types o f aquatic ecosystems, both in the suburban zone and in the densely developed city center.The edible frog was determined in most water bodies (Nowakowski et al. 2008).In the au thors' opinion, the edible frog is one o f the species most resistant to the adverse effects o f urbanization.Characterized by a high degree o f ecological flexibility, this eurybiontic taxon quickly colonizes new ecosystems, it is least susceptible to anthropogenic pres sure and shows the highest level o f resistance to changes in the agricultural landscape (Berger & Rybacki 1998, Głowaciński & Rafmski 2003).

Number of species
In comparison with other cities, the amphibian communities o f Olsztyn were cha racterized by a much higher total abundance even if the noted results account only for the populations noted in small water bodies (Nowakowski et al. 1998) and disregard large populations breeding in the littoral zones o f lakes situated within city limits (No wakowski et al. 2008) that were not an object o f this study.
Significant differences in the species and quantitative composition o f amphibians were observed in individual water bodies and in the analyzed types o f water bodies in Olsztyn's urban environment.Regardless o f the type o f the surrounding area, most water bodies were colonized by two to three amphibian species.Aquatic habitats with a higher number o f species had less than a 30% share o f the total number o f water bodies inhabited by amphibians.The noted differences resulted mainly from the size o f the wa ter body and the diversity o f the littoral zone which provided a supportive environment for the growth and reproduction o f a given species.Species richness was affected by the size o f the water body, the length o f the shore line and the length o f the shore line overgrown by helophytes in case o f birds (Nowakowski et al. 2001a).The above corre lations determine the positive effect that the size and the degree o f isolation o f a "habitat island" have on species diversity (Mac Arthur & Wilson 1967).Such correlations were also pointed out by Minton (1968) who argued that the low number o f amphibian spe cies in municipal parks was due to the parks' small size and a high degree o f isolation.The noted variations in species abundance and the size o f amphibian populations inha biting water bodies may also follow from the combined effect o f other factors, including different habitat preferences, the avoidance or consequences o f interspecific competi tion, predation and urban pressure in the areas surrounding water bodies.
Single taxa were more frequently observed in water bodies situated in areas with dispersed, low-rise buildings and in allotment gardens.The above results not only from intensified urban pressure, which is rarely encountered in the allotment zone, but also from human activity and the anthropogenic transformation o f aquatic ecosystems.Maz gajska (1996) and Majewski & Nowakowski (2001) suggested that growing urbaniza tion in areas surrounding water bodies impoverishes the species structure o f amphibian communities and supports single species domination.Nowakowski et al. (2001bNowakowski et al. ( , 2008) ) have demonstrated that the community o f six am phibian species in Olsztyn's allotment gardens was clearly dominated by the common toad and was characterized by the lowest species diversity (Shannon index H ' = 1.54).Significant differences were noted in comparison with the amphibian communities in habiting water bodies in residential zones (H' = 2.18) and the suburban zone (H' = 2.46).The species structure o f amphibians in allotment gardens was similar to that noted in residential zones (Soerensen index So = 80.0%), while the domination structure o f the compared communities was different (Renkonen index RE = 46.98%).Both communi ties were characterized by a very low share o f the moor frog, an absence o f the crested newt and much lower occurrence frequency o f the fire-bellied toad and the common spadefoot in comparison with Olsztyn's suburban habitats.
The lower species diversity in allotment gardens and residential districts in com parison with suburban areas (wooded and open areas) can be attributed to the specific features o f different aquatic habitats.In suburban areas, a vast number o f intermittent water bodies are formed in early spring, and they are the breeding site o f the common frog, the fire-bellied toad and the common spadefoot.Water bodies without stream ou tflow in suburban barren lands and forests were also the habitat o f the crested newt.A nearly complete absence o f seasonal water bodies was noted in allotment gardens and residential estates.Kierzkowski & Ogielska (2001) also observed a higher level o f am phibian species diversity in the catchment areas o f Odra and Oława rivers in Wroclaw in comparison with developed areas where the number o f amphibian species decreased from the 1980s.The key factors responsible for the drop in species diversity in allot ment gardens include water and environmental pollution with fertilizers and herbicides as well as human activity.
Artificial fertilizers and herbicides reach aquatic habitats with runoff water, contri buting to the contamination o f amphibian eggs and larvae (Cooke 1971).Rain water washes away deposited contaminants which comprise vast quantities o f chlorides, sul fates and hydrocarbons in urban areas (Zimny 2005).In Warszawa, earthworms (Lumbricidae) colonizing lawns in the vicinity o f roads contained higher quantities o f heavy metals than the earthworms inhabiting parks (Zimny 2005).Chemical substances are also likely to accumulate in the soil o f the investigated allotment gardens, thus affec ting the food chain.Amphibian skin is permeable to water and gas, and as predators, amphibians accumulate toxic chemical substances ingested with food.The above has an adverse effect on their survival and reproduction, and it could explain the relatively small size o f amphibian populations in this environment. Bishop et al. (2000) found that amphibians reproducing in man-made retention pon ds were characterized by lower mating success.In comparison with natural habitats, those ecosystems were colonized by fewer species due to the absence o f aquatic vege tation, chemical contamination o f water and blue-green algal blooms.The abundance o f amphibians in water bodies is also determined by the water pH.Except for the pool frog, which inhabits peatlands with water pH o f 5 (Heym 1974), the remaining frog species and the natterjack toad tend to avoid acidic habitats (pH 4-5) (Beebee & Griffin 1977, Strijbosch 1979, Beebee 1983).The above findings were not validated by the results o f a study investigating the environmental preferences o f the common frog in northern England which showed no correlations between the water pH and the presence o f the analyzed species (Aston et al. 1987).The acid rain effect in urban areas may also contri bute significantly to environmental pollution due to the presence o f extensive transport networks and local physiographic features, leading to variations in amphibian popula tions regardless o f the type o f the water body.Precipitation, including snow cover and fog, may contain nitrogen compounds, in particularly transport-related substances.Ac cording to Rouse et al. (1999), high concentrations o f those compounds in urban surface waters may deliver a toxic effect.
Amphibians are also subject to various global threats that can reduce their popula tions, including the depletion o f the ozone layer which increases surface UV levels and causes global warming.According to Beebee (1995), climate change can lead to the earlier onset o f mating in species that normally mate at certain intervals.The above af fects the availability o f food resources and intensifies interspecific competition.Similar effects are noted in the urban environment where the average annual temperatures are higher in comparison with the surrounding areas (Zimny 2005).The above could lead to the domination o f a small number o f species in selected water bodies, lower mating success, accelerated metamorphosis, smaller body size and lower survival rates.
In view o f the growing urban pressure on amphibian communities, the highest de crease in species diversity should be expected in water bodies situated in densely deve loped municipal areas.The results o f this study do not fully validate this assumption.
The above could be due to the small size o f the analyzed sample (only three water reser voirs in a densely developed residential estate), but the noted results most likely reflect the fact that the studied aquatic habitats became part of residential districts relatively recently (two-three years ago).This could suggest that amphibians avoid areas marked by a high degree o f human intervention, but it should also be noted that environmental changes and changes in amphibian abundance will be induced by the new ecological factor with a certain delay.Differences in the structure o f amphibian communities result not only from the location o f water bodies relative to urban areas and the specific fea tures o f their direct surroundings, but also from the duration o f the aquatic ecosystem's isolation from natural habitats.The history o f a water body and its surroundings and the degree o f isolation could significantly affect the species diversity o f the local fauna.The above factors could obscure the effect o f urban pressure on amphibian communities in Olsztyn.The city comprises a vast network o f ecological corridors between built-up areas (Nowakowski & Dulisz 1998) potentially allowing amphibians to migrate to zo nes subjected to human pressure.

Fig. 1 .
Fig. 1.Distribution o f the m ain types o f environments and small w ater bodies w ithin O lsztyn's administrative boundaries in the western part o f the city; atlas square is a 500x500m area; lines based on topographic net.
natterjack toad has been spotted in suburban areas, it does not have any breeding sites in Olsztyn.Small populations o f the discussed taxon were noted in Zielona Góra in the early 1970s, and the species disappeared from the city in 1979 (Najbar et al. 2005).The above could be due to strong urban pressure in open areas and changes in the city's hydrographic network.The natterjack toad is one o f Polish amphibian species that is most adapted to live in a terrestrial habitat.It colonizes xerothermic habitats and gras slands with loose, sandy soils.The species reproduces mostly in intermittent, shallow water bodies, small hollows without stream outflow, puddles and bog-springs (Juszczyk 1987).In urban areas, open habitats undergo rapid transformation due to intensive deve lopment, they are isolated by road networks, and they are adversely affected by changes in the soil structure.The construction o f sewer systems that rapidly drain rain water leads to the extinction o f seasonal water bodies.Tadpoles o f the natteijack toad develop over a period o f two months, therefore the drying up o f intermittent water bodies con taining spawns and tadpoles contributes to a rapid drop in the local population.Urban pressure could be the main reason for the disappearance o f the analyzed species from large cities.The disappearance o f water-logged areas, a drop in the water level, the degradation o f meadows and "clean up" activities along the banks o f urban water bodies are the main anthropogenic factors responsible for the extinction o f habitats o f the tree frog and the fire-bellied toad in cities.The tree frog inhabits areas with a high groundwater level, and it breeds in water bodies densely overgrown with aquatic vegetation.The natural habitats o f the fire-bellied toad are shallow floodplains with dense vegetation cover (Juszczyk 1987).

Fig. 3 .Fig. 4 .
Fig. 3. N um ber o f species distribution in small w ater bodies in Olsztyn.

Table 2 .
The num ber o f the am phibian species in relation to the location o f w ater bodies.N -num ber of w ater bodies studied.
the "green frogs'' were inclusive o f the marsh frog Rana ridibundaPallas, 1771 and  in Białystok (Siwak et al. 2000)where the Bufo calamita (Laurenti, 1768), a species having no breeding sites in Olsztyn, was found.A similar species composition was de termined in Wroclaw (Kierzkowski & Ogielska 2001), but without the presence o f the crested newt.Significant variations were noted in the species composition o f amphibian communities in Kraków, Gniezno and Poznań.The investigated habitats were colonized by the marsh frog, but were marked by an absence o f the tree frog, an absence o f the common spadefoot in Kraków, and an absence o f the crested newt in Gniezno(Juszczyk  1989, Guzik et al. 1996, Adamiak 2008).Significantly different batrachofauna was ob served in the water bodies o f Zielona Góra (Najbar etal.2005), which were colonized, by the alpine newt Triturus alpestris(Laurenti, 1768