Spatial tests of the pesticide drift, habitat destruction, UV-B, and climate-change hypotheses for California amphibian declines

被引:248
|
作者
Davidson, C
Shaffer, HB
Jennings, MR
机构
[1] Calif State Univ Sacramento, Dept Environm Studies, Sacramento, CA 95819 USA
[2] Univ Calif Davis, Grad Grp Ecol, Davis, CA 95616 USA
[3] Univ Calif Davis, Sect Evolut & Ecol, Davis, CA 95616 USA
[4] Univ Calif Davis, Ctr Populat Biol, Davis, CA 95616 USA
[5] Rana Resources, Davis, CA 95616 USA
[6] Calif Acad Sci, Dept Herpetol, San Francisco, CA 94118 USA
关键词
D O I
10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.01030.x
中图分类号
X176 [生物多样性保护];
学科分类号
090705 ;
摘要
Wind-borne pesticides have long been suggested as a cause of amphibian declines in areas without obvious habitat destruction. In California, the transport and deposition of pesticides from the agriculturally intensive Central Valley to the adjacent Sierra Nevada is well documented, and pesticides have been found in the bodies of Sierra frogs. Pesticides are therefore a plausible cause of declines, but to date no direct links have been found between pesticides and actual amphibian population declines. Using a geographic information system, we constructed maps of the spatial pattern of declines for eight declining California amphibian taxa, and compared the observed patterns of decline to those predicted by hypotheses of wind-borne pesticides, habitat destruction, ultraviolet radiation, and climate change. In four species, we found a strong positive association between declines and the amount of upwind agricultural land use, suggesting that wind-borne pesticides may be an important factor in declines. For two other species, declines were strongly associated with local urban and agricultural land use, consistent with the habitat-destruction hypothesis. The patterns of decline were not consistent with either the ultraviolet radiation or climate-change hypotheses for any of the species we examined.
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页码:1588 / 1601
页数:14
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