Co-occurrence patterns of five species of anurans at a pond network in Victoria Lake, Kenya

we examine the community structure and co-occurrence patterns of amphibians inhabiting a pond network at Lake Victoria. Specifically, we answer to the following key questions: (i) within a same landscape scale, are amphibian assemblages from natural ponds different from those inhabiting artificial ponds? (ii) Are the amphibian communities randomly or nonrandomly organized? The results from multivariate analyses revealed the existence of three groups of species: (i) Xenopus victorianus being linked exclusively to artificial ponds, (ii) Phrynobatrachus natalensis being linked essentially to artificial ponds, and (iii) a third group being constituted by species mainly (Ptychadena mascareniensis) or exclusively (Hoplobatrachus occipitalis and Hemisus guineensis) linked to natural ponds. The recent origin of our artificial ponds seems linked to the random organization of the anuran communities.