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Density, climate and varying return points: an analysis of long-term population fluctuations in the threatened European tree frog

  • Population Ecology
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Abstract

Experimental research has identified many putative agents of amphibian decline, yet the population-level consequences of these agents remain unknown, owing to lack of information on compensatory density dependence in natural populations. Here, we investigate the relative importance of intrinsic (density-dependent) and extrinsic (climatic) factors impacting the dynamics of a tree frog (Hyla arborea) population over 22 years. A combination of log-linear density dependence and rainfall (with a 2-year time lag corresponding to development time) explain 75% of the variance in the rate of increase. Such fluctuations around a variable return point might be responsible for the seemingly erratic demography and disequilibrium dynamics of many amphibian populations.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Swiss Federal Office for Environment, Forest and Landscape, the Center for Fauna and Nature Conservation (Canton Vaud), and the MAVA Foundation. The Swiss Federal Office for Water and Geology provided data on the river Aare water level. We thank Lori-Jayne Lawson Handley and Jason Rohr for comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Jérôme Pellet

    Present address: Center for Conservation Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Conservation Biology, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biology Building, 1015, Dorigny, Switzerland

    Jérôme Pellet & Nicolas Perrin

  2. KARCH, Naturhistorisches Museum, Bernastrasse 15, 3005, Bern, Switzerland

    Benedikt R. Schmidt & Fabien Fivaz

  3. Zoologisches Institut, Universität Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zürich, Switzerland

    Benedikt R. Schmidt

  4. Abteilung Wirbeltiere, Naturhistorisches Museum, Bernastrasse 15, 3005, Bern, Switzerland

    Kurt Grossenbacher

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  1. Jérôme Pellet
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Correspondence to Jérôme Pellet.

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Communicated by Anssi Laurila

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Pellet, J., Schmidt, B.R., Fivaz, F. et al. Density, climate and varying return points: an analysis of long-term population fluctuations in the threatened European tree frog. Oecologia 149, 65–71 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0432-1

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