Research Information System
North-Western Journal of Zoology, vol.20, no.1, pp.58-64, 2024 (SCI-Expanded)
Anthropogenic activity and urbanization subject the diversity and distribution of amphibians to constant change. This study aims to reveal the impact of increasing urbanization pressure on amphibian diversity, density, and distribution in Istanbul, a megacity. I researched amphibian species’ presence and dispersal in and around the wetlands of Istanbul, spanning urban, semi-urban, and non-urban areas. I conducted surveys in 2016 and 2017 at 396 sites and found seven species (four families) of amphibians at 151 stations. Anurans occurred at 38.13% of sites, and newts at 8.6%. The alpha diversity of semi-urban regions was higher than in urban and non-urban areas of Istanbul. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis of relative abundances of amphibian species at the three site types showed significant differences. Compared to the distribution of each species reported in the literature, I found that distributions have spread to the west, east, and north of the province. Several species occurred in semi-urban wetlands due to the pressure of urbanization, which causes extirpations or declines to low abundance, making their detection unlikely in urban areas.