Frogs well-off due to nature friendly bank control

18juni2008
Source: vroegevogels.vara.nl
Researchers of the university of Leiden have studied the role of bank control in prevalence of amphibians in ditches. The results were published in Biological Conservation.
Three researchers of the centre of environmental science studied ditches in the western peat moor area. All ditches were close to nature reserves plenty of amphibians, such as the green frog. 42 ditches were studied in total, 18 of them were engaged in nature friendly bank control and 24 were not.
In the ditches, the amphibians were counted. The effect of the control in relation to the distance of the nature resort was also studied.
The researchers discovered more kinds of amphibians in the ditches that were controlled nature friendly than in the other ditches. Frogs spread from nature areas in the western peat moor area much easier via ditches with a nature friendly bank control than via ditches without this control. Nature areas can thus be a source of bio diversity for the surrounding agricultural lands.