Geographically Varying Habitat Characteristics of a Wide-Ranging Amphibian, the Common Spadefoot Toad (Pelobates Fuscus), in Northern Europe (original) (raw)

Anthropogenic habitat loss and degradation are often cited as the primary causes of the recent decline or extinction of many species. The restoration of degraded habitats is therefore vital. Successful habitat restoration, however, requires proper identification of critical habitat characteristics and recognition of the factors that threaten the species. In this study, we describe the geographic variation of habitat characteristics for a widely distributed species with a declining population trend in Europe, the Common Spadefoot Toad (Pelobates fuscus). We examined 407 water bodies and their surrounding habitats in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Estonia by measuring 23 habitat characteristics and evaluating their effects on the species using canonical discriminant, logistic regression, and Spearman correlation analysis. We demonstrate that while the habitat features related to the selection of a breeding site by the species (based on presence/absence of larvae) were generally similar...