Conservation of the yellow-bellied toad in Gesäuse National Park: collecting baseline data
Magdalena Baumgartner, University of Vienna (AT)
The yellow-bellied toad, Bombina variegata, was first recorded in Gesäuse National Park in 2004. Population size, estimated with a recapture study in 2016, may be below 100 adult individuals, distributed over several disjunct sites. In one study area, adult survival was high (0,62) from 2010 to 2016. Suitable breeding habitats are rare, originating from trampling of cattle, wallowing of deer or human activities. Drying of puddles and predation by Alpine newts probably cause high larval mortality. Nevertheless, successful reproduction was observed at two sites in 2016.