Feeding Ecology of the Green Toad (Bufotes viridis complex) in Urban Environments

Data about the feeding ecology of the green toad (Bufotes viridis complex) from two hills near the city of Plovdiv, Mladezhki Hill and Bunardzhik Hill, are presented. The diet of the green toad consists mainly of insects, predominantly Hymenoptera (mostly Formicidae) and Coleoptera. When comparing the quantitative composition of the trophic spectrum between the two populations, we did not detect statistically significant differences. However, the value of the trophic niche breadth of the population from the Mladezhki Hill was significantly greater than that of the population from the Bunardzhik Hill, indicating that the first population feeds on more diverse prey. The overlapping of food niches between the two populations is low due to the different conditions and microhabitats of the two studied hills. The green toad can be classified as a polyphage (zoophage), which plays an important role in food chains, both in natural and urban ecosystems.