Follow-up ecological studies for cryptic species discoveries: Decrypting the leopard frogs of the eastern U.S

被引：3

作者：

Schlesinger, Matthew D. ^{[1
]}

Feinberg, Jeremy A. ^{[2
,3
]}

Nazdrowicz, Nathan H. ^{[4
]}

Kleopfer, J. D. ^{[5
]}

Beane, Jeffrey C. ^{[6
]}

Bunnell, John F. ^{[7
]}

Burger, Joanna ^{[8
]}

Corey, Edward ^{[9
]}

Gipe, Kathy ^{[10
]}

Jaycox, Jesse W. ^{[11
]}

Kiviat, Erik ^{[12
]}

Kubel, Jacob ^{[13
]}

Quinn, Dennis P. ^{[14
]}

Raithel, Christopher ^{[15
]}

Scott, Peter A. ^{[16
]}

Wenner, Sarah M. ^{[16
]}

White, Erin L. ^{[1
]}

Zarate, Brian ^{[17
]}

Shaffer, H. Bradley ^{[16
,18
]}

机构：

[1] SUNY Albany, Coll Environm Sci & Forestry, New York Nat Heritage Program, Albany, NY 12222 USA

[2] Rutgers State Univ, Dept Ecol Evolut & Nat Resources, New Brunswick, NJ USA

[3] Smithsonian Inst, Natl Museum Natl Hist & Conservat Biol Inst, Washington, DC 20560 USA

[4] Univ Delaware, Dept Entomol & Wildlife Ecol, Newark, DE USA

[5] Virginia Dept Game & Inland Fisheries, Charles City, VA USA

[6] North Carolina Museum Nat Sci, Raleigh, NC USA

[7] New Jersey Pinelands Commiss, New Lisbon, NJ USA

[8] Rutgers State Univ, Div Life Sci, Piscataway, NJ USA

[9] North Carolina Div Pk & Recreat, Raleigh, NC USA

[10] Penn Fish & Boat Commiss, Nat Divers Sect, Bellefonte, PA USA

[11] New York State Off Pk Recreat & Hist Preservat, Staatsburg, NY USA

[12] Hudsonia Ltd, Annandale On Hudson, NY USA

[13] Nat Heritage & Endangered Species Program, Massachusetts Div Fisheries & Wildlife, Westborough, MA USA

[14] CTHerpConsultant LLC, Southington, CT USA

[15] Rhode Isl Dept Environm Management, Div Fish & Wildlife, Providence, RI USA

[16] Univ Calif Los Angeles, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, Los Angeles, CA USA

[17] New Jersey Div Fish & Wildlife, Endangered & Nongame Species Program, Clinton, NY USA

[18] Univ Calif Los Angeles, UCLA La Kretz Ctr Calif Conservat Sci, Inst Environm & Sustainabil, Los Angeles, CA USA

来源：

PLOS ONE | 2018年 / 13卷 / 11期

关键词：

RANA-PIPIENS COMPLEX; BATRACHOCHYTRIUM-DENDROBATIDIS; HAPLOTYPE RECONSTRUCTION; EXTINCTION RISK; POPULATION; DIVERSITY; BIODIVERSITY; SYSTEMATICS; CLIMATE; EVOLUTIONARY;

D O I：

10.1371/journal.pone.0205805

中图分类号：

O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];

学科分类号：

07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;

摘要：

Cryptic species are a challenge for systematics, but their elucidation also may leave critical information gaps about the distribution, conservation status, and behavior of affected species. We use the leopard frogs of the eastern U.S. as a case study of this issue. We refined the known range of the recently described Rana kauffeldi, the Atlantic Coast Leopard Frog, relative to the region's two other leopard frog species, conducted assessments of conservation status, and improved methods for separating the three species using morphological field characters. We conducted over 2,000 call and visual surveys and took photographs of and tissue samples from hundreds of frogs. Genetic analysis supported a three-species taxonomy and provided determinations for 220 individual photographed frogs. Rana kauffeldi was confirmed in eight U.S. states, from North Carolina to southern Connecticut, hewing closely to the Atlantic Coastal Plain. It can be reliably differentiated in life from R. pipiens, and from R. sphenocephala 90% of the time, based on such characters as the femoral reticulum patterning, dorsal spot size and number, and presence of a snout spot. However, the only diagnostic character separating R. kauffeldi from R. sphenocephala remains the breeding call described in 2014. Based on our field study, museum specimens, and prior survey data, we suggest that R. kauffeldi has declined substantially in the northern part of its range, but is more secure in the core of its range. We also report, for the first time, apparent extirpations of R. pipiens from the southeastern portion of its range, previously overlooked because of confusion with R. kauffeldi. We conclude with a generalized ecological research agenda for cryptic species. For R. kauffeldi, needs include descriptions of earlier life stages, studies of niche partitioning with sympatric congeners and the potential for hybridization, and identification of conservation actions to prevent further declines.

引用

页数：28