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Age and growth in a European flagship amphibian : equal
performance at agricultural ponds and favourably managed
aquatic sites

Orchard, DG; Tessa, G; Jehle, R

Age and growth in a European flagship amphibian : equal
performance at agricultural ponds and favourably managed
aquatic sites Thumbnail


Authors

DG Orchard

G Tessa



Abstract

In human-modified landscapes, little is known about the influence of aquatic habitat types on the demographic structure of residing amphibian populations. In the present paper, we focus on a European flagship urodele species (the great crested newt Triturus cristatus) at the north-western range of its distribution, applying the method of skeletochronology to compare the ages of individuals retrieved from agricultural ponds with individuals retrieved from aquatic sites favourably managed for T. cristatus presence. Median ages ranged between 4.5 and 10.0 years depending on sex and population, and did not differ between the two site categories. Females were on average older than males at both agricultural ponds as well as favourably managed sites. Median ages at sexual maturity (3 years for females and 2 years for males) were 4 years below the most commonly observed age cohort in both sexes, suggesting that young adults regularly forgo reproduction. Mean body size did not differ between agricultural ponds and favourably managed sites. However, the former were characterised by a higher variance in body size, which is possibly linked to more unstable ecological conditions in agricultural settings. Taken together, our findings confirm that under suitable conditions agricultural ponds can harbour sustainable populations, an important finding for the broad-scale conservation management of T. cristatus which does not usually take population demographies into account.
Keywords: Demography Great crested newt Skeletochronology Triturus cristatus Urodeles

Citation

aquatic sites. Aquatic Ecology, 53(1), 37-48. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-018-09671-3

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 29, 2018
Online Publication Date Jan 14, 2019
Publication Date Jan 14, 2019
Deposit Date Jan 14, 2019
Publicly Available Date Jan 14, 2019
Journal Aquatic Ecology
Print ISSN 1386-2588
Electronic ISSN 1573-5125
Publisher Springer Verlag
Volume 53
Issue 1
Pages 37-48
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-018-09671-3
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-018-09671-3
Related Public URLs https://link.springer.com/journal/10452

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