Evaluating Movement Patterns and Microhabitat Selection of the Japanese Common Toad (Bufo japonicus formosus) Using Fluorescent Powder Tracking.

Bufo japonicus formosus (Eastern-Japanese common toad) is endemic to Eastern Japan. As with many Japanese amphibians, little is known about its terrestrial life, especially during the nonbreeding season. This species persists even in highly disturbed urban areas where many other amphibian species have already been extirpated. An understanding of how such species use habitats within remnant landscapes may help to inform management strategies for the conservation of urban ecosystems. We examined the nightly movement patterns, distance traveled, movement range, and microhabitat selection of non-breeding adult B. j. formosus at an urbanized site, using fluorescent powder tracking. We evaluated the usefulness of this tracking method through this survey. We found that the nightly distances traveled by these toads varied greatly among individuals and nights. No sexual differences in movement pattern, distance traveled, and movement range were detected. However, body size significantly affected distance traveled and movement range. We found that toads tended to use areas covered with grasses and mosses more frequently than expected, and to avoid paved areas. Fluorescent powder tracking was effective for the elucidation of movement patterns and habitat selection of amphibians. Our results provide useful information for the conservation of amphibians, especially for species inhabiting urbanized areas.

Fine-Scale Genetic Differentiation in a Salamander Hynobius tokyoensis Living in Fragmented Urban Habitats in and Around Tokyo, Japan.

Salamanders are expected to differentiate genetically among local populations due to their low dispersal ability, and are potentially susceptible to loss of genetic diversity if the population is isolated by habitat fragmentation. The salamander Hynobius tokyoensis is a lowland lentic breeder and endemic to a narrow area of central Japan. In this urban area, H. tokyoensis habitats are extensively fragmented and several populations are threatened with extinction, but information on genetic divergence and loss of genetic diversity is scarce. We performed mitochondrial (cyt b) and microsatellite (five loci) DNA analyses of 815 individuals from 46 populations in 12 regions across their entire distribution range. As a result, populations were clearly separated into northern and southern groups, and genetic differentiation among the 12 regions was also evident. Regional differentiation appears to be affected by a complex geographical history, but the genetic diversity of each population may have also been affected by recent habitat fragmentation. There were positive correlations between the mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA diversities. Some populations have lost genetic diversity in both mitochondrial and microsatellite DNAs; all such populations were at the peripheral edges of the species distribution range. Thus, even in attempts to restore genetic diversity in a small population by the transfer of outside individuals, efforts must be made to avoid genetic pollution.

Adaptive responses of animals to climate change are most likely insufficient.

Biological responses to climate change have been widely documented across taxa and regions, but it remains unclear whether species are maintaining a good match between phenotype and environment, i.e. whether observed trait changes are adaptive. Here we reviewed 10,090 abstracts and extracted data from 71 studies reported in 58 relevant publications, to assess quantitatively whether phenotypic trait changes associated with climate change are adaptive in animals. A meta-analysis focussing on birds, the taxon best represented in our dataset, suggests that global warming has not systematically affected morphological traits, but has advanced phenological traits. We demonstrate that these advances are adaptive for some species, but imperfect as evidenced by the observed consistent selection for earlier timing. Application of a theoretical model indicates that the evolutionary load imposed by incomplete adaptive responses to ongoing climate change may already be threatening the persistence of species.

Fluctuation in abundance and age structure of a breeding population of the Japanese brown frog, Rana japonica gunther (Amphibia, anura).

A breeding population of Rana japonica was studied at a marsh on the campus of Hiroshima University in Higashi-Hiroshima during the five years 1995-1999. The mark-recapture study showed that the size of the breeding population varied from year to year, and increased more than twofold in 1999 in comparison with the preceding years. The sex ratio of the breeding population (male/female) was from nearly 1.0 to 1.6. Frogs of both sexes were estimated to breed for the first time at the age of one or two years, and their maximum age was four years according to skeletochronology using phalanges and mark-recapture. Modes of the estimated ages were one year for males during the study years except 1997, but one or two years for females. Two thirds of breeding frogs, irrespective of their sex, were estimated to breed only once throughout their lives.