Amphibian Diversity on the Yachana Reserve

2009 saw the launch of GVI Amazon’s pitfall project, studying the effect of structural habitat change on amphibian and reptile diversity. Running for a year, 1666 individuals were captured and released. Currently the data from this project is being analysed by returning base manager Andy Whitworth with the aim of publishing the research. So successful was this project that 2010 began with a launch of a continuation project. 12 new pitfall sites were chosen covering different locations and habitats (see first map).

So far the traps have been open for a total of 20 days (10 days per 5 weeks). With the volunteers’ help we have trapped and identified 137 individuals. By far the most common visitor the traps is the frog Pristimantis kichwarum, accounting for 45% of all captures so far in 2010. However, far from becoming a bore, this species is so variable it is always interesting to see just how much it can vary.


Although data collection is still in the very early stages some patterns are emerging (see second map). To analyse the data we have used the Shannon index (see here for a description: http://www.tiem.utk.edu/~mbeals/shannonDI.html) in order to account for the abundance of each species found at a given site. Work still to be done includes site calssification and grouping (through vegetation mapping) in order to apply alpha, beta and gamma diversity (http://cnx.org/content/m12147/latest/) to the data.


It is the volunteers’ contributions that allow such work to take place and we would like to say a big thank you to all those who have contributed in the past and are due to contribute in the future!


Olly Burdekin - GVI Amazon Field Staff

Amphibian Diversity on the Yachana Reserve