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Anuran conservation is paramount, as frogs represent a group of vertebrates that is highly threatened by various anthropogenic and environmental factors. Habitat management decisions must therefore be made considering the interactions between amphibians and their microhabitats. We determined the resting microhabitats of an endemic arboreal male frog, considering biotic and abiotic variables in tropical montane forest fragments and shaded coffee agroecosystems in Central Veracruz, Mexico. In a sampling effort undertaken by 580 person-hours, covering 1100 ha, 157 male small-eared treefrogs, Rheohyla miotympanum (Cope, 1863), were recorded resting in 29 plant species. Using coinertia analysis, the resting microhabitats were shown to mainly consist of five herbaceous and shrub species. Post hoc analysis showed that the significant relationship with the resting microhabitats was explained by the importance of the presence of plant species that grow at higher elevations, enabling low frog body temperatu...

Bat acoustic libraries are important tools that assemble echolocation calls to allow the comparison and discrimination to confirm species identifications. The Sonozotz project represents the first nation‐wide library of bat echolocation calls for a megadiverse country. It was assembled following a standardized recording protocol that aimed to cover different recording habitats, recording techniques, and call variation inherent to individuals. The Sonozotz project included 69 species of echolocating bats, a high species richness that represents 50% of bat species found in the country. We include recommendations on how the database can be used and how the sampling methods can be potentially replicated in countries with similar environmental and geographic conditions. To our knowledge, this represents the most exhaustive effort to date to document and compile the diversity of bat echolocation calls for a megadiverse country. This database will be useful to address a range of ecological questions including the effects of anthropogenic activities on bat communities through the analysis of bat sound., The Sonozotz project represents the first nation‐wide library of bat echolocation calls for a megadiverse country.

The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is a threat to the survival of amphibians worldwide, a situation that is compounded by several other factors. In this study, we determined the prevalence of Bd and its relationship to biotic and abiotic variables for six amphibian communities in two cloud forest fragments and four coffee agroecosystems in central Veracruz, Mexico. A sampling effort of 768 person-hours and 109 skin swabs resulted in the detection of B. dendrobatidis in four amphibian species belonging to three families. The co-inertia model showed the following as the most important variables: tree density, fern species, temperature and elevation, fragment or site size, and structural index. Conversely, we did not find a clear relationship between Bd prevalence and the habitat management gradient. The highest prevalence was found in the second cloud forest, but a very similar result was found in one of the traditional agroecosystems; the lowest levels of prevalence were found in another second traditional agroecosystem and the first cloud forest. The degree of infection was highest in the cloud forests where the diversity of trees, orchids, and elevation was higher. Ecnomiohyla miotympanum was the most abundant species and was found to be infected in four of the five sites, presenting the highest degree of infection.

Of the most common types of land use, agroecosystems put enormous pressure on many groups of biological organisms. Amphibians are not the exception and here we show the value of these habitats to the conservation of this group. We evaluated the diversity of amphibians in coffee plantations (traditional and specialized shade) and also in fragments of cloud forest, the ecosystem that was dominant in pre-agricultural central Veracruz, Mexico. A sampling effort of 2,688 person hours recorded 1,078 amphibians belonging to 26 species, 10 families and three orders. Based on the mean complementarity of 64 %, the non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis identified three groups of communities indicating a high degree of species turnover. The Craugastoridae family was dominant at the study sites, representing 40 % of the entire sample. Amphibian diversity was high in cloud forest fragments, followed by the traditional coffee plantation. However, amphibian richness in the specialized shaded coffee plantation was not significantly different from that of the other two habitats. We conclude that the different types of coffee agrosystems are reservoirs for at least 46 % of the species native to cloud forest, indicating that this habitat is very important to the conservation of the amphibian fauna in central Veracruz.

Context The processes of fragmentation, habitat loss, degradation and their combined effects are formidable threats to amphibian populations. Aims We evaluate the effect of three land use-type variables and nine landscape matrix quality factors on amphibian presence in four coffee agro-ecosystems and two cloud-forest fragments in central Veracruz, Mexico. Methods Each site was thoroughly searched using the visual-encounter survey technique along different trails in the most feasible microhabitats for detecting amphibians during four rainy seasons (2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009). Centred on the location where each amphibian species was first recorded, we established what we refer to as a buffer area within a radius of 1.5 km. A Co-Inertia mathematical model was used to determine which of the explanatory variables contributed to maintaining amphibian diversity. The landscape variables were landscape-quality index, open areas, canopy cover (low, intermediate, dense) at the matrix level, river, road and human population density and site size. Local variables were elevation, plant-structure and biological-impact indices. Key results During the study we recorded 1078 amphibians belonging to 26 species, 17 genera and 10 families. The variables explaining the composition of amphibian diversity were river and human population density, low canopy cover at the matrix level, elevation, site size and plant-structure index. Amphibian diversity increased as the structural complexity of the habitat increased, and the former was positively correlated with fragment size. Conclusion The present study indicated that coffee agro-ecosystems and the cloud-forest fragments in the region form a gradient in habitat quality and landscape variables that exert a differential influence on amphibian assemblages, and that each species responds uniquely to different variables. Implications Coffee agro-ecosystems and forest fragments cannot be seen as homogenous patches with a certain habitat quality, separate from the landscape matrix in which they are immersed. Stakeholders are not advised to rely on a single strategy to conserve the amphibian community, but rather should aim to maintain a heterogeneous landscape with forest fragments and coffee agro-ecosystems that have a complex vertical plant structure at the habitat level, especially in highly river-dense landscapes.