Trait-mediated responses of frog communities to urbanisation in a tropical biodiversity hotspot, the Western Ghats of India
Mudke, M., & Aravind, N. A. · Urban Ecosystems · May 2026
This study provides one of the few trait-based assessments of amphibian responses to urbanisation from the Global South, focusing on a rapidly expanding city in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot. By examining frog communities across an urban–forest gradient, we show that urbanisation does not necessarily lead to immediate declines in species richness, but instead drives shifts in community composition through trait-mediated filtering. Larger-bodied, fossorial, arboreal, and direct-developing species were associated with less urbanised habitats, while disturbance-tolerant generalists dominated city sites. These findings demonstrate that functional traits offer critical insight into amphibian vulnerability beyond richness patterns alone. Importantly, the study highlights the conservation value of habitat heterogeneity, microhabitat retention, and remnant green spaces within rapidly developing tropical landscapes. As amphibians are among the world's most threatened vertebrates, our results provide empirical guidance for amphibian-sensitive urban planning in biodiverse regions of the Global South.
