Diversity and abundance of amphibians in three wetlands( koffe, kitto and boye) around jimma town, south west Ethiopia

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the diversity and abundance of amphibians in Kofe, Kito and Boye wetlands around Jimma town, south western Ethiopia. For the data collection transect line were established along the whole area of the three wetlands. Representative transects were randomly selected for actual survey. Visual encounter surveys (VES) and Acoustic Encounter surveys (AES) methods were used for the assessment of amphibian presence along accessible length of the established transect. Amphibians observed were handpicked and placed in Zip locked plastic bags and brought to zoology laboratory JimmaUniversity (JU) for identification using standard key largen and spawl was used for identification. Data was collected from March-September of 2018.Ten species of amphibians were recorded all distributed in sixgenus. Among these nine species were identified to the species level. One species was identified to genus level. The identified species werePtychadenaneumani, Ptychadenawadei,Ptychadenamascareniensis,Ptychadenaerlangeri, Hyperollusviridiflavus, Afrixalusenseticola, Xenopuslargeni,Buforegularis and Lepitopelisragazzi.Of the trapped 501 individuals, amphibians the most individuals (79) were of p. wadei and least ( 20) was of L.ragazzi.The study shows degradation of habitats especially Boye wetland, so as to minimize the problem creating awareness among people by employing appropriate communication strategies about their importance of wetlands.