Early amphibian colonizers of man-made mini-ponds: first results of a citizen science experiment
2025
Siebert,Janette | Burgstaller,Stephan | Kornilev,Yurii | Krall,Maria Magdalena | Hamernik,David | Kremser,Janis | Loupal,Anna | Spießberger,Magdalena | Zaller,Johann G | Schweiger,Silke | Graf,Wolfram | Dörler,Daniel | Heigl,Florian | Landler,Lukas
The loss of suitable spawning habitats is a global threat to amphibians. Thus, establishing man-made ponds may serve as a successful conservation practice to counteract this threat. In this experiment, we used a citizen science (CS) approach to create mini-ponds in private gardens and asked participants to monitor amphibian activity. We provided 302 polyethylene mini-ponds (120 L × 90 W × 40 D cm) to citizen scientists across the range of the target species, the European green toad (Bufotes viridis), in Austria. In the first year of the experiment (2024), B. viridis and 12 other amphibian taxa were recorded at 38% of the monitored sites. Signs of amphibian reproduction were detected in 10% of the mini-ponds. Bayesian occupancy models showed detection probabilities consistent with other studies. Over time, we expect more amphibians to discover the mini-ponds and more individuals to use them for reproduction. Our experiment demonstrates that the creation of relatively small ponds is a promising method for supporting and monitoring amphibian populations.
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