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International Journal of Ecology
Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 989872, 11 pages
doi:10.1155/2012/989872
A Place to Call Home: Amphibian Use of Created and Restored Wetlands
1Department of Biology, Texas State University-San Marcos, 601 University Drive, San Marcos, TX 78666, USA
2Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada
3Center for Restoration of Ecosystems and Watersheds, School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, University of Oklahoma, 202 West Boyd Street, Norman, OK 73019, USA
Received 8 July 2011; Revised 26 September 2011; Accepted 20 October 2011
Academic Editor: L. Smith
Copyright © 2012 Donald J. Brown et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Loss and degradation of wetland habitats are major contributing factors to the global decline of amphibians. Creation and restoration of wetlands could be a valuable tool for increasing local amphibian species richness and abundance. We synthesized the peer-reviewed literature addressing amphibian use of created and restored wetlands, focusing on aquatic habitat, upland habitat, and wetland connectivity and configuration. Amphibian species richness or abundance at created and restored wetlands was either similar to or greater than reference wetlands in 89% of studies. Use of created and restored wetlands by individual species was driven by aquatic and terrestrial habitat preferences, as well as ability to disperse from source wetlands. We conclude that creating and restoring wetlands can be valuable tools for amphibian conservation. However, the ecological needs and preferences of target species must be considered to maximize the potential for successful colonization and long-term persistence.