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Evaluation of spatial scales in relative abundance estimation using advertisement calls of two frog species that use paddy fields for breeding

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  • Eiki Aikawa,
  • Masayuki Saito
Eiki Aikawa
Yamagata University
Masayuki Saito
Yamagata University
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/a_h-15588

Published 2026-08-10

Keywords

  • Black-spotted pond frog,
  • breeding,
  • forest green tree frog,
  • Pelophylax nigromaculatus,
  • rice paddy,
  • Royle-Nichols model,
  • scale dependency,
  • Zhangixalus arboreus
    • ...More
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How to Cite

Aikawa, E., & Saito, M. (2026). Evaluation of spatial scales in relative abundance estimation using advertisement calls of two frog species that use paddy fields for breeding. Acta Herpetologica. https://doi.org/10.36253/a_h-15588

Copyright (c) 2026 Eiki Aikawa, Masayuki Saito

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Abstract

We evaluated the critical spatial scales for estimating the relative abundance of the forest green tree frog (Zhangixalus arboreus) and the black-spotted pond frog (Pelophylax nigromaculatus), both of which utilize paddy fields for breeding, in rural landscapes in northeastern Japan. Visiting each of the 42 sites established in the Shonai region five times between May and June 2023, we record the presence or absence of advertisement calls from the target species. We constructed the Royle-Nichols models to explain the repeated presence or absence data by the proportion of surrounding paddy fields, along with other landscape factors and weather conditions. The proportion of surrounding paddy fields was prepared for a radius ranging from 100 to 1,500 m. Through these analyses, we determined the optimal spatial scale, assessing the effects of spatial scale dependency. The optimal spatial scale for elucidating the relative abundance of the two frog species was the narrowest buffer size, with a radius of 100 m, underscoring the greater explanatory power of a finer spatial scale. This optimal spatial scale holds significance for various conservation and land use planning purposes. The trend for the forest green tree frog remained consistent as the scale changed, with a higher relative abundance estimated in environments featuring a moderate amount of surrounding paddy fields. Conversely, the impact of the surrounding landscape on the black-spotted pond frog varied with spatial scale, indicating spatial scale dependency. This dependency may be attributed to differences in sensitivity to the surrounding landscape between these species.

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