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Monitoring of the last stronghold of native pool frogs (Pelophylax lessonae) in Western Europe, with implications for their conservation

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Abstract

The original diversity of Pelophylax water frogs has been compromised by multiple biological invasions all over Western Europe. For the European pool frog (P. lessonae), the Joux Valley—a 30 km highland depression in northwestern Switzerland—stands as the last stronghold spared by exotic lineages. In order to manage P. lessonae in the valley, we combined traditional field surveys with environmental DNA metabarcoding and mapped the regional distribution of amphibian species. Both approaches concurred that P. lessonae persists at a single isolated site (Pontet). Continuous monitoring of this population throughout the spring and summer 2019 informed on their wintering quarters (most likely the forest litter immediately surrounding the breeding pond), as well as the timing of migration (end of April), breeding (June), and larval development (June–August). In parallel, we experimented the first use of drone technology for amphibian surveillance: 30 adults were individually counted during an aerial survey at the peak of the breeding season, confirming the small size of the population. Finally, we compared some biotic and abiotic properties among water bodies throughout the valley and flagged a few sites that were ecologically similar to Pontet. In a landscape dominated by pastoral activities where Pelophylax dispersal is virtually impossible, these could be candidates for future translocation efforts. Our study illustrates the application of next-generation monitoring techniques for the urgent management of threatened species and stresses the need for reevaluating the conservation status of P. lessonae in Western Europe, where it appears to subsist in low numbers at one last locality.

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Funding

We thank Pro Natura and the DGE-BIODIV (Direction Générale de l’environnement, Biodiversité et paysage, Vaud) for funding the field survey and the eDNA analyses, as well as the Parc Jura Vaudois (Melissa Lenarth and Caroline Khamissé), the association De La Grande Cariçaie, and volunteers of Pro Natura for providing drift fences and their support; SPYGEN staff for the technical support in the laboratory for eDNA analysis; and Lucía Leal-Esteban for the help in the field. Amphibians were captured under a permit issued by the DGE-BIODIV (No. 3115) and were released unharmed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LASER, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China

    Christophe Dufresnes

  2. Hintermann & Weber SA, Montreux, Switzerland

    Christophe Dufresnes, Joaquim Golay, Johan Schuerch & Sylvain Dubey

  3. SPYGEN, Le Bourget-du-Lac, France

    Tony Dejean

  4. AgroSustain SA, Nyon, Switzerland

    Sylvain Dubey

  5. Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Sylvain Dubey

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  1. Christophe Dufresnes
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  2. Joaquim Golay
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  5. Sylvain Dubey
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Correspondence to Christophe Dufresnes.

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We declare the following conflict of interest: T.D. cofounded SPYGEN, the company that developed the eDNA metabarcoding approach used in this study.

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Dufresnes, C., Golay, J., Schuerch, J. et al. Monitoring of the last stronghold of native pool frogs (Pelophylax lessonae) in Western Europe, with implications for their conservation. Eur J Wildl Res 66, 45 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-020-01380-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-020-01380-3

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