Anuran occupancy dynamics and an assessment of floodplain wetland distribution and hydrology in a Missouri River floodplain

I studied amphibians and their associated wetlands in the Missouri River floodplain in Iowa from 2010-2013. I had the opportunity to study the effect of a catastrophic flood on an anuran community in the Missouri River floodplain. Three species (plains leopard frog, Woodhouse’s toad, and Blanchard’s cricket frog) had only minor changes in adult male occupancy rate in the two years after the flood. Colonization rates for these species were positively associated with wetlands that were shallower near the shore and they did not appear to be affected by reduced vegetation. Three other species or species complexes (northern leopard frog, the gray treefrog complex, and boreal chorus frog) had greatly reduced occupancy rates in the two years after the flood. Colonization rates for these species were relatively low, and they had high extinction rates. Colonization rates for these species were not associated with any measured habitat characteristic. Future flood events will likely continue to make northern leopard frogs, gray treefrogs, and boreal chorus frogs a less important part of the ecological community. Although some species may fare well under extreme climate events forecast under climate change scenarios, I hypothesize that many species will be challenged. Amphibian conservation has often relied on auditory call surveys to determine habitat associations of anuran species. These surveys are restricted to only a single important life stage, however, and management recommendations from call surveys alone risk creating ecological traps or population sinks. Calling adult male surveys had established that slope at the inner edge of the wetland, wetland area, and percentage of bare ground within 1 m of the