Fauth & Resetarits 9727039 & 9727543 Ecologists have long been interested in understanding the factors controlling the abundance and distribution of species and particularly concerned about identifying the processes controlling species diversity. This project focuses on understanding species diversity in Anuran communities in temporary ponds in coastal and sandhill regions of the Southeastern US, habitats with the highest levels of diversity for these organisms outside of the tropics. Despite substantial earlier work, there is little understanding of the factors that influence the high diversity of these communities under natural situations. This work will test a model of amphibian species richness in Southeastern temporary ponds using a series of replicated whole-pond experiments. Ultimately, the model will be further developed and refined to include other taxa and systems. This research will also address one of the most common criticisms of previous investigations of these amphibian communities. Much earlier work has been conducted in artificial habitats and little effort has been made to relate this work to processes occurring in natural ecosystems. Through its use of experimental manipulations of natural temporary ponds, this project will address this fundamental concern. Ultimately it will be able to test the extent to which mesocosm experiment that are designed primarily to test general or specific ecological theories can simultaneously describe in detail and make specific predictions about the structure and dynamics of natural communities. This work will have important implications for both basic ecology and conservation biology. It will help to identify the factors that have maintained high Anuran diversity in Southeastern habitats while substantial reductions of amphibian species have been noted elsewhere in the US.
