Detection probability and habitat selection of the beyşehir frog, Pelophylax caralitanus (Arikan 1988), in Southwestern Anatolia, Turkey

Abstract

This study provides the detection probabilities and habitat selection of the Beyşehir frog Pelophylax caralitanus in the Lake District region of Turkey. We collected ecological data from a total 67 sites including water chemistry variables and regional landscape variables that have considerable effects on amphibian distributions. The proportion of site occupied by the Beyşehir frog was 0.507, which is equivalent to almost half of the studied sites. The average detection probability was calculated as 0.48 ± 0.102 over the year, whereas it was calculated as 0.75 ± 0.090 during the breeding season. Temperature was positively correlated with detection probability. Maximum water depth, forest edge presence within 30 m of the water body, canopy presence surrounding the water body, submerged vegetation presence, vegetation cover rate of the water body, pH, dissolved O2, chloride, and Mg hardness were statistically different in sites where the Beyşehir frog is present and absent. Among the regional landscape variables potentially affecting the presence of the species, Logistic Regression Analysis showed positive relationships with canopy presence surrounding the water body and forest edge presence within 30 m of habitats. pH, in turn, was negatively related to the presence of P. caralitanus as an explanatory variable of water chemistry. © 2016 Folium Publishing Company.