Abstract: The survey of amphibian communities plays an important role in formulating conservation strategies of biodiversity. In the past 20 years, rapid urbanization has occurred in Jiangsu Province, especially in Lianyungang City. Urbanization affects amphibian communities through habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation of habitat quality, which are the main threats to amphibian populations. In order to understand the spatial and temporal patterns of amphibian communities in Lianyungang City, 14 sampling transect were established and surveys were conducted to investigated the richness and density of anurans in April, June and August of 2018. Five amphibian species were detected in the study area, which belong to 4 genera, 3 families, 1 order. The five species are Asiatic Toad (Bufogargarizans), Black-spotted Pond Frog (Pelophylaxnigromaculatus), Beijing Gold-stripe Pond Frog (P. plancyi), Zhenhai Brown Frog (Rana zhenhaiensis) and Hong Kong Rice-paddy Frog (Fejervarya multistriata). The species of F. multistriata was the most frequently detected, whereas R. zhenhaiensis was rare detected in the survey. The species diversity of amphibians varied significantly at the survey season, with the highest diversity index in June, followed by August, and the lowest in April. Based on the amphibian species richness and distribution pattern, it could be concluded that anurans in Lianyungang are affected both by environmental change in microhabitats and in temporal variables. Some protective suggestions are proposed.

Key words: Lianyungang, amphibian, resource investigation, biodiversity