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Abstract

Ecuador is a country known worldwide for its high diversity of amphibians. However, in recent years this vertebrate taxon has suffered a drastic decrease in population due to habitat loss and the environmental problems that consequently arise, thus increasing the risk of extinction of these species. The Ecuadorian Chocó is one of the most threatened regions by the destruction of its ecosystems, hence this study aims to identify, at the landscape level, the effect of habitat loss and fragmentation of the Ecuadorian Chocó in the distribution of threatened anurans. The presence and absence of forest in the study area were identified through the available official information at the national level, and global information obtained from the Global Forest Change project. This information was the basis to yield landscape metrics in the ecosystems within the Ecuadorian Chocó biological province. A total loss of 12.66% of natural forest was calculated in the period between 2000 and 2018. Within the Ecuadorian Chocó, 13 threatened anuran species were identified, 10 of which had their ecological niche modeled. Within these models, the number of forest patches were quantified. It became evident that all studied species occurred within small forest patches (1200 Ha), which have decreased in frequency in recent years. This adds to the fact that the National System of Protected Areas covers 177,956 hectares of the Ecuadorian Chocó, that is, 8.5% of the total area of the biogeographic province. These results suggestthat the Protected Areas locatedwithintheChocó have shown effective conservation of wetland and mangrove ecosystems. However, the disappearance of small patches of forest and the general decrease in habitat indicate that a greater connection between protected areas is necessary to secure the conservation of habitats for this taxon.

Keywords: Chocó, Anurans, Ecosystems, Habitat fragmentation and loss, Niche Modeling Conservation, Protected areas.