Drivers of amphibian richness in European ponds

Amphibians are commonly occurring inhabitants of most lentic freshwater ecosystems, yet their global populations are in alarming decline. Ponds in particular play a crucial role in supporting amphibian biodiversity. In this study, we identified the main drivers influencing amphibian species richness by conducting a comprehensive ecological characterization in 201 ponds across seven European countries spanning a large latitudinal and longitudinal gradient. The amphibian species richness in each of these ponds was assessed using environmental DNA metabarcoding on water samples. The relative influence of climatic, local abiotic and biotic, and land use variables on variation in species richness across ponds was quantified using Boosted Regression Trees. Our results suggest that local factors, particularly chlorophyll-a concentration, but also pond area and depth, are the main drivers of amphibian richness, together with climatic variables such as annual mean precipitation and temperature. ...,

Sampling Sites: 201 ponds were sampled across Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Turkey.

eDNA Collection: Water samples were collected and analyzed using environmental DNA metabarcoding techniques.

Variables Measured: Climatic (e.g., temperature, precipitation), land use, abiotic (e.g., pond depth, nutrient concentrations), and biotic factors (e.g., vegetation, fish richness).

Detailed methods are provided in the associated manuscript., , # Drivers of amphibian richness in European ponds

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hdr7sqvtq](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hdr7sqvtq)

## Description of the data and file structure

## Project Description

This dataset explores the drivers of amphibian species richness across 201 European ponds in seven countries. It includes ecological characterizations derived from environmental DNA metabarcoding and environmental variables (climatic, land use, abiotic, and biotic). The aim is to identify key factors influencing amphibian biodiversity to inform conservation and management practices.

This dataset is associated with manuscript ECOG-07347 from the **Ecography** journal (DOI: 10.1111/ecog.07347).

## Dataset Overview

* **File Name**: `Drivers_of_amphibian_richness_in_European_ponds.csv`
* **Sheet Structure**: The dataset includes columns for pond identifiers, country, environmental variables, amphibian species richness, and metadata on sampling conditions.
* **Variable Descriptions**:
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