Stormwater ponds (“SWPs”) are artificial roadside structures, conceived to retain and clean polluted runoff water, before its release to the environment. SWPs were not designed as suitable habitats for wildlife. However, SWPs in Europe are frequently used as breeding sites by amphibians, especially by the European green frog (Pelophylax sp.). Yet, the potential long-term effects of pollutants within SWPs on the populations of this species are unknown. In this study, we investigated the suitability of SWPs as a habitat for European green frogs living in Alsace, NE France, a region with a highly modified landscape that mainly consists of croplands with few natural wetlands remaining. We compared various biological indicators of individual health in 709 green frogs belonging to different life history stages, living in 9 semi-natural ponds (SNPs) and in 25 SWPs. There were no differences between these two pond types for most of the indicators investigated. However, juveniles had a lower body condition (−124%) in SWPs, while adults were 8.3% larger and 41.4% heavier in SWPs. Based on these results, we suggest that SWPs are not a suitable habitat for the development of European green frogs (i.e. juveniles), but may serve as a substitute habitat for adults in a highly modified landscape with few natural wetlands remaining. SWPs may especially act as relay sites, allowing frogs to colonize relict wetlands.

雨水池塘（“ SWP”）是人工的路边结构，其构想是在排放到环境中之前保留并清洁污染的径流水。SWP并非被设计为适合野生动植物的栖息地。然而，在欧洲，两栖动物特别是欧洲绿蛙（Pelophylax sp。）。但是，未知的是，SWP内污染物对该物种种群的潜在长期影响。在这项研究中，我们调查了SWPs作为居住在法国东北部阿尔萨斯的欧洲绿蛙栖息地的适宜性，该地区的景观高度变化，主要由农田组成，几乎没有自然湿地。我们比较了生活在9个半天然池塘（SNP）和25个SWP中的709个属于不同生活史阶段的绿蛙个体健康的各种生物学指标。对于所调查的大多数指标，这两种池塘类型之间没有差异。但是，青少年的SWP的身体状况较低（-124％），而成年人的SWP则大8.3％，重41.4％。根据这些结果，我们建议，SWP不是适合发展欧洲绿蛙（即幼体）的栖息地，但可以作为成年人的替代栖息地，在高度改良的景观中保留很少的自然湿地。SWP尤其可以充当中继站，使青蛙能够定居在遗迹湿地上。