Testing the habitat suitability index for great crested newt in Central Poland

As amphibians decline at alarming rates worldwide, there is a growing need for developing and perfecting tools for predicting species occurrence, abundance and demography. One of those tools are Habitat Suitability Indices (HSI) that are widely used in conservation for habitat evaluation. We have used HSI developed for great crested newt Triturus cristatus to assess its predictive capability, and to determine which of the indices that make the final HSI are the most important factors in shaping this species presence in waterbodies in forest landscape of Central Poland. Our focus was at the local scale variables. We found that the occurrence of T. cristatus could be predicted by the HSI, and the three most important factors in shaping that prediction were the pond area as well as the presence and abundance of invertebrates or predatory fish. We argue that biotic factors could have, along landscape features, significant influence on habitat suitability of this species.