High habitat invasibility unveils the invasiveness potential of water frogs

Determining the invasibility of habitats by alien species is crucial for understanding their spread potential, the habitats the most at risk and to implement adequate management actions. This is urgent for introduced taxa that show high invasion potential across broad geographical scales. We here assess these processes in invasive Pelophylax water frogs which are widespread colonizers across Western Europe and for which the invasibility of habitats remains to be quantified. Specifically, we used hierarchical occupancy models in a Bayesian framework to identify local- and landscape-scale features that can enhance occupancy of the most common invasive water frog, the marsh frog (P.ridibundus), in southern France. Water frogs were highly detectable and showed high occupancy across the invaded landscape. The invaders expressed a very broad habitat tolerance for both local- and landscape-scale variables while their invasion was facilitated by the occurrence of deep, permanent ponds with abundant aquatic vegetation and high sun exposure. Cross-validation showed a good transferability of models across space. The high invasibility of a wide range of habitats by Pelophylax water frogs is alarming and unveils their invasiveness, contributing therefore to explain their success of invasion over broad geographic scales.

Automated summary

This study assessed the invasibility of habitats by invasive Pelophylax water frogs in Western Europe. The results showed that these frogs have a high potential for invasion in a wide range of habitats, especially in deep, permanent ponds with abundant aquatic vegetation and high sun exposure.