Habitat association of amphibians in East African bush- and grassland: an example from Meru National Park, Kenya

The amphibian diversity in different vegetation communities was investigated in Meru National Park (Kenya), using transect sampling, drift-fences, pitfalls and opportunistic collection. Acacia wooded grassland had highest amphibian diversity (H' = 2.071, D = 6.74), Acacia-Commiphora bushland ranked second (H' = 1.858, D = 5.88) and Combretum wooded grassland ranked third (H' = 1.581, D = 5.08). Acacia wooded grassland had the highest amphibian abundance (n = 173 individuals) and species richness (10 species). Combretum wooded grassland had eight species with less abundance (n = 113 individuals), while the Acacia - Commiphora bushland had seven species only, with higher abundance (n = 144 individuals). Detrended Correspondence Analysis showed the plots, which occur close together with similar species composition. Correspondence Analysis was performed to investigate the association of amphibian species with plant assemblages. There was a positive linear correlation between amphibian species richness and plant species diversity in all vegetation communities. However, as the Spearman Rank Test could not establish any significant correlation between plant and amphibian diversities in the respective habitats, the amphibians recorded in the present study area cannot be used as surrogate organisms to evaluate environmental changes.