Abstract
As the biggest inner city national reserve in Germany, the Dönche in Kassel is characterized by its history and composition of ponds, reeds and varying woodlands. Due to artificial grazing, the structural open landscape with small-area wetland habitats was well preserved. In the last two decades, changes in aquatic ecosystems were becoming more obvious. From originally 400 water filled bomb crater only five are left and while several dry out in late spring or early summer, only three might keep enough water for amphibians to reproduce. After the project group “Amphibien- und Reptilienschutz in Hessen e.v.” (Agar) verified the existence of several amphibian species in the Dönche in 2002, no further detailed inventory on Salamandridae biodiversity and especially the northern crested newt had been conducted. Because of the long time since any latest survey and an obviously changing situation in the water household, we collected information on populations and species diversity for an inventory covering the entire breeding season between March and July. We followed movements of the great crested newt (Triturus cristatus) using a potentially novel tool for newt tracking using body patterns and analyzed the situation of the common newt (Lissotriton vulgaris) while attempting to get an overview on all present amphibian species with a focus on the water quality and water-cycle. As a result of our study we are stating the worrying condition of local amphibian populations due to a major decline in habitat suitability for all aquatic amphibians in the nature reserve Dönche, most likely caused by an increase in global temperature.
Acknowledgements
First of all we would like to thank Axel Krügener from the “Obere Naturschutzbehörde” in Kassel for giving us the permission to perform our study and monitor amphibian populations in the nature reserve Dönche. We like to acknowledge the assistance of Rüdiger Wagner, who supported us with background information of the Dönche and valued advises and Claudia Wulff for access to the open-air laboratory. Clemens Pachschwöll and Gunnar M. Kvifte offered valuable criticism on an earlier version of the manuscript. We also want to thank Richard Griffiths, Max Sparreboom and Pim Arntzen for access to useful literature and reviewers for valuable criticism.
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