Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Abundance and Diversity of an East African Leaf Litter Amphibian Fauna

We present data on sample richness, relative abundance, and community structure of a leaf litter amphibian assemblage from globally important miombo-mopane woodlands characteristic of western Tanzania. We describe patterns of diversity across major habitat types and between different seasons from an annual pitfall-trapping campaign. We recorded 28 species of amphibians, which is significantly higher than existing richness estimates for other miombo woodland sites elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa. We found that cultivation of native habitat reduces frog diversity, a conclusion that has important implications in light of the rapid conversion of miombo woodland for agriculture and fuel-wood across much of southern and central Africa. Many species showed strongly ansynchronized patterns of seasonality in relative abundance, which has significant implications for the establishment of successful monitoring programs and biodiversity surveys. These conclusions emphasize the importance of stratified long-term sampling in biodiversity studies and demonstrate that superficial levels of sampling effort can lead to erroneous conclusions regarding patterns of diversity in amphibian communities. The relatively poor focus on herpetofaunal research in African miombo-mopane woodland is out of proportion to its ecological and conservation significance.