Amphibians have a biphasic life cycle that requires both freshwater and land, but habitat destruction and changes in land use can break the connection between these environments. Small ponds located in pasture area, which are the result of deforestation activities, are essential for amphibians breeding in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. We are interested in understanding how elements of the deforested landscape can increase habitat heterogeneity and affect tadpole communities and, consequently, pond ecosystem function and structure. For instance, scattered trees are keystone structures in human-modified landscapes, provisioning microclimate, habitat, and maintaining connectivity by acting as stepping stones. We thus used experimental ponds, located in a pasture grassland surrounded by forest fragments divided into 3 treatments: ponds at the edge of a forest fragment, ponds under a scattered tree and ponds in open pasture. In each pond, we measured biotic and abiotic variables, tadpole abundance and community composition, and several ecosystem variables (e.g. stocks, decomposition, secondary production, tadpole-mediated nutrient excretion). Sixteen tadpole species used our experimental ponds for breeding. Scattered-tree ponds tended to have higher dissolved nutrients, chlorophyll-a concentration, and allochthonous material, while pasture ponds tended to have higher turbidity, oxygen and lower conductivity. However. landscape elements and biotic and abiotic pond characteristics had no effect on tadpole abundance, nor on leaf decomposition, or tadpole community areal excretion. However, species richness and diversity were important predictors of community areal excretion. This is one of the first studies investigating how landscape characteristics affect ecosystem structure and functions in small tropical ponds and how amphibians mediate ecosystem functions. Our findings highlight the importance of conserving ponds associated with different landscape elements in pasture-dominated areas to increase habitat heterogeneity, support species sorting, and maintain tadpole-driven ecosystem functions. This is especially relevant given the rapid decline of anurans and the high rates of deforestation in the Atlantic Forest.