Understory frog communities recover quickly during tropical forest regeneration

Abstract Millions of hectares of tropical forest have been lost to agriculture, posing a major threat to biodiversity. However, where agricultural activities do not cause irreversible damage, forests can regenerate after abandonment, forming secondary forests that are increasingly important for conserving forest species. We investigated how understory frog communities respond to forest regeneration using a space–for–time substitution approach within a mosaic landscape in the lowland Chocó forest of northwestern Ecuador. The chronosequence included 38 plots distributed across active pastures, cacao plantations, regenerating forests (0–37 years after cacao or pasture abandonment), and old‐growth forests. We tested whether understory frog species richness, diversity, and composition increase along the regeneration gradient using regeneration time, land‐use legacy (cacao vs. pasture), basal area, and proximity to the nearest forest as predictors. Additionally, we assessed shifts in community composition across regeneration stages and estimated the time required for full recovery. Regeneration time had a significant positive effect on species richness, diversity, and composition, all of which increased along the chronosequence. Amphibian richness and diversity were estimated to recover fully after approximately 30 years. In this highly forested landscape, neither land‐use legacy nor distance to forest significantly affected richness, diversity, or composition. We suggest that age‐related forest characteristics, such as increased structural complexity, promote the recovery of understory frog communities, while landscape heterogeneity further supports community recovery. Our findings underscore the role of regenerating forests in sustaining amphibian diversity and highlight the potential contribution to long‐term conservation of local frog communities.