Description of a seminatural habitat of the endangered Suweon treefrog<i>Hyla suweonensis</i>

Amphibian populations have been declining worldwide over the last few decades due to causes like habitat modification, climate change, and emergent diseases. Hyla suweonensis, a treefrog species endemic to Korea, has disappeared from much of its historic distributional range. Past studies reported this species to breed exclusively in man-made rice paddies. This study reports the habitat characteristics of a seminatural site for H. suweonensis. Out of 100 sites where H. suweonensis was present, only one was not a rice paddy. This seminatural site was characterized by a network of swamps bordered with forests of willow trees. H. suweonensis individuals located on willow trees called from 0.2 to 1.50 m above ground at the edge of the forest near the swamps. The seminatural site has a large percentage of rice paddies with a very low percentage of urban areas, a feature consistent with findings of a previous study. H. suweonensis was found calling with two other amphibian species. Although extracted from a single site, the information from this study is important for the management and the conservation of the species.

Hali tarjima qilinmagan