# Amphibian Strategies Against Attacks by Flies: Host‐Specificity and Threats

## TL;DR

This paper reviews how flies threaten amphibians in tropical ecosystems and how these interactions are affected by human activities like habitat loss and climate change.

## Contribution

The study provides a systematic review of fly-amphibian interactions, emphasizing their ecological significance and conservation implications.

## Key findings

- Flies can transmit pathogens to amphibians, posing indirect threats.
- Fly eavesdropping on frog calls disrupts amphibian communication systems.
- Human activities like habitat alteration and invasive species disrupt fly-amphibian interactions.

## Abstract

Species interactions are fundamental to ecological and evolutionary processes, shaping ecosystem dynamics and driving biodiversity. Among those, interactions between flies and amphibians are common in tropical areas, yet most aspects of their ecology and evolution are understudied. Using the PRISMA method, we systematically review the literature to examine the direct and indirect threats imposed by Diptera flies attacking amphibians and the behavioral, physiological, and acoustic defenses they elicit. We delve, for instance, into the eavesdropping behavior of some dipteran species, which use anuran calls as cues for host‐seeking, and the potential impacts on frog communication systems. As flies can be disease vectors, we investigate pathogen transmission to amphibians as an indirect cost imposed by flies attacking them and examine the role of species specificity in these dynamics. Finally, we address how human activities are currently impacting these long‐established interactions between dipterans and amphibians. We focus on potential disruptions caused by habitat alteration, the presence of invasive species, and climate change. By synthesizing existing knowledge of the threats imposed by flies on amphibians, we shed light on these groups of growing conservation concern given their current escalating extinction rates. Ultimately, our findings provide valuable insights into the intricacies of species interactions and underscore the urgent need for comprehensive studies mitigating the adverse effects of anthropogenic disturbances on these clades.

Species interactions between Diptera flies and amphibians play a significant role in tropical ecosystems, but their ecology and evolution remain understudied. This review explores the costs flies impose on amphibians, such as pathogen transmission and disruption of communication systems, and highlights the evolutionary strategies employed by both groups. It also examines how human activities like habitat alteration and climate change impact these interactions, emphasizing their conservation importance rising extinction risks.