Abstract Amphibians of high mountain lakes face many threats related to global change, including novel pathogens, development, climate change and overexploitation. However, the foremost threat is the presence of non-native fish. One of the objectives of the LIFE+ LIMNOPIRINEUS project (2014–2019) was the recovery of protected amphibian communities (including the endemic Calotriton asper) in eight naturally fishless Pyrenean high mountain lakes, by controlling or eradicating non-native trout or minnows. During the summer months of 2015 to 2019, we removed 95–100% of the fish present in these lakes, and monitored changes in their amphibian populations, as well as surveyed 56 nearby control lakes with or without fish. We found rapid natural recovery of amphibian communities as fish removal work progressed. The fish-removal lakes achieved typical richness figures for the area one year after fish removal began, and typical species abundances after three years (with the only exception of Rana temporaria). We documented a total of 16 colonisation events, all by amphibian species from the same valley. The two earliest colonisation events were observed in the year in which fish removal began, with eight events the following year. The lack of colonisation from nearby valleys in the study period highlights the crucial role of nearby residual populations not affected by human impacts. We show that whole amphibian communities from high mountain lakes recover rapidly after eliminating or reducing non-native fish, proving that this is a powerful tool to improve the conservation status of endangered amphibians.

中文翻译：

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从高山湖泊中清除非本地鱼类后，两栖动物群落迅速恢复

摘要 高山湖泊两栖动物面临着许多与全球变化相关的威胁，包括新型病原体、发育、气候变化和过度开发。然而，最重要的威胁是非本地鱼类的存在。LIFE+ LIMNOPIRINEUS 项目（2014-2019 年）的目标之一是通过控制或消灭非本地鳟鱼或小鱼，在八个自然无鱼的比利牛斯高山湖泊中恢复受保护的两栖动物群落（包括地方性 Calotriton asper）。在 2015 年至 2019 年的夏季，我们清除了这些湖泊中 95-100% 的鱼类，并监测了其两栖动物种群的变化，并对附近 56 个有鱼或无鱼的对照湖泊进行了调查。随着鱼类清除工作的进展，我们发现两栖动物群落的自然恢复迅速。鱼类去除开始一年后，鱼类去除湖泊达到了该地区典型的丰富度数字，三年后达到了典型的物种丰度（唯一的例外是林蛙）。我们总共记录了 16 次殖民事件，所有事件都是来自同一山谷的两栖动物。最早的两个殖民事件发生在鱼类开始移除的那一年，第二年发生了八个事件。研究期间附近山谷没有殖民化，突出了附近未受人类影响的残余种群的关键作用。我们表明，在消除或减少非本地鱼类后，高山湖泊中的整个两栖动物群落迅速恢复，证明这是改善濒危两栖动物保护状况的有力工具。