Urban croaking: diversity and distribution of anurans in a neotropical city

Anurans are excellent site-specific bioindicators. Although urbanization imposes diverse threats to wildlife species, little is known about its effect on tropical anurans. In this study we assessed the response of anurans to different conditions within an urban area (i.e. highly developed intra-urban residential areas, highly developed peri-urban residential areas, intra-urban abandoned lots, waterway). Our results show that: (1) 36 % of the regional anuran species pool was found within the boundaries of the studied city, (2) species richness peaked in highly developed peri-urban areas, (3) anuran abundance scores were highest in abandoned lots, and (4) highest similarity was found between the anuran community from highly developed peri-urban areas and abandoned lots. Although this study was carried out in a single city, and we only recorded four species, our results suggest that the urban semi-permeability process occurs for anuran communities, plus the fact that abandoned lots seem to offer better breeding habitat for anurans than a polluted waterway.