Invasive plant leaf litter affects anuran embryo survival rates, timing of hatching, and hatchling size
Abstract
The negative impacts of invasive species on native amphibians have been well studied (Moyle 1973; Bradford 1989; Blossey 1999; Simberloff 2000; Bucciarelli et al. 2014). Although much of this research has focused on the negative impacts of animals, invasive plants are of particular interest because they are disproportionately wetland species (Zelder and Kercher 2004) that could pose a substantial risk to aquatic amphibians. Invasive plants can alter aquatic systems by leaching phytochemicals and causing changes to water chemistry (Leonard 2008; Watling et al. 2011a; Montez 2016). Phenolic compounds of invasive plants have been suggested as the proximate causes in the reduction of survival of some native aquatic amphibians (Maerz et al. 2005; Brown et al. 2006). Other plant invasions have been associated with changes in water chemistry that subsequently alter the behavior and metamorphosis of larval anurans (Watling et al. 2011a, b; Saenz et al. 2013; Saenz and Adams 2017).