Frog Population Dynamics related data sets

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: El Verde Station, located in the tabonuco forest zone on the NW side of the Luquillo Experimental Forest (LEF), has hosted numerous scientific efforts since the 1960s. Thus, a great deal of information exists concerning anuran populations at the site over the past 30 years. Although past surveys did not use consistent techniques, they clearly document the general status of the anuran community of the area. I began working at El Verde in the 1970s and have collected data on the anuran community primarily in the 1980s and 1990s. Until recently, these surveys also lacked a consistent sampling protocol, although they clearly document declines in species richness in comparison to earlier records.

Most Puerto Rican Eleutherodactylus are terrestrial frogs that breed for prolonged periods of time in more or less continuous habitat. Because their life cycle lacks a free living larvae stage, reproductive behavior is not tied to bodies of water and they do not have the large aggregations typical of many aquatic breeders. For these reasons, assessing their population status requires examining fairly large areas of habitat. I began systematically sampling the anuran community on a 12 ha grid at the Bisley watersheds in 1989 and a second 16 ha grid at El Verde in 1993. These efforts have provided a comprehensive data set that can be used to evaluate future changes in the anuran community in this forest.

Record_num	Catalog_na	Identifier
25	LTERDBAS	Frog transect data
30	LTERDBAS	Frog grid data (Bisley)
44	LTERDBAS	Frog population plots (El Verde + Bisley)
45	LTERDBAS	Frog spatial distribution data (El Verde + Bisley)
76	LTERDBAS	Frog abundance in fertilization plots
150	LTERDBAS	Pattern morphology for frogs captured at 9 locations in northeastern Puerto Rico over a 25-year period from 1978 to 2002

Last Modified By: Eda C. Melendez-Colom (emelend@lternet.edu )
Last Modified On: July 9, 2007