DESCRIPTION IN DRY SEASON OF THE MICROHABITAT OF THE TADPOLE OF Telmatobius macrostomus (Peters, 1873) "LAKE JUNIN FROG" IN THE TRIBUTARIES OF LAKE CHINCHAYCOCHA / PERU

Abstract

Telmatobius macrostomus (Peters, 1873) is an endemic species of high Andean rivers and lakes in the center of Junin and Pasco / Peru, categorized as endangered. The present study describes the microhabitat of T. macrostomus tadpoles during the dry season, for this, 10 physicochemical parameters were evaluated in substations (≈ 100 m2) and six in quadrants (1 m2). By means of a non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test it was determined that none of the parameters evaluated in the substations with the presence (n = 10) and absence (n = 17) of tadpoles of T. macrostomus were not different (p value > 0.05), likewise the quadrants with presence (n = 29) and absence (n = 1108) were not significantly different (p value > 0.05). However, the non-metric scaling analysis and a similarity analysis (ANOSIM) resulted in a significant difference between the quadrants with presence and absence in a single substation (R = 0.50, p = 0.0004). It is established that tadpoles of T. macrostomus live in high aquatic vegetation, near the banks of rivers, in silt-type substrate, minimum depth of 30 cm, associated with the presence of native fish of the genus Orestias and a high diversity of diatoms. Based on the evaluated parameters, it is concluded that T. macrostomus tadpoles are generalists and that some type of microhabitat selection in substations could be related to habitat alteration or feeding factors, but there are characteristics in quadrants observables associated with their presence. Finally, short-term conservation efforts are planned for this species. © Departamento Académico de Biología, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Lima – Perú.