Amphibian larvae and predatory aquatic insect data from ponds in Berlin, Germany, with different amounts of greenspace and built-up area in their terrestrial surroundings.

Urbanisation leads to drastically modifications into the environment. Urban ponds are valuable habitats for different taxa, including insects and amphibians, especially when surrounded by greenspace. Greenspace is important for aquatic insects feeding and mating, and it is assumed to have positive effect on their diversity in ponds, whereas built-up area is assumed to effects negatively. Because some aquatic insect families are feeding on tadpoles, their diversity is assumed to depend on the tadpole abundance, which is in turn, dependent on tadpole’s available food, phytoplankton, in the ponds. We aim to understand whether a number of biological and environmental factors influence aquatic insect diversity in 18 urban ponds in the German metropolis Berlin, one of the greenest while densest-populated European cities. The ponds were characterised by different amounts of greenspace and built-up area in a 1 km buffer zone around each pond. We visited the ponds twice a year, in spring and summer, and examined the diversity of tadpole feeding aquatic insects, and tadpole abundance by using funnel traps. We assumed higher aquatic insect’ diversity, associated with high tadpole abundance in ponds with high amounts of greenspace, and low levels of built-up area in their terrestrial surroundings. Further, we assumed the presence and absence of newts and fishes in ponds to influence aquatic insects negatively.