Introduced species have the potential to become invasive and jeopardize entire ecosystems. The success of species establishing viable populations outside their original extent depends primarily on favorable climatic conditions in the invasive ranges. Species distribution modeling (SDM) can thus be used to estimate potential habitat suitability for populations of invasive species. Here we review the status of six amphibian species with invasive populations in Brazil (four domestic species and two imported species). We (i) modeled the current habitat suitability and future potential distribution of these six focal species, (ii) reported on the disease status of Eleutherodactylus johnstonei and Phyllodytes luteolus, and (iii) quantified the acoustic overlap of P. luteolus and Leptodactylus labyrinthicus with three co-occurring native species. Our models indicated that all six invasive species could potentially expand their ranges in Brazil within the next few decades. In addition, our SDMs predicted important expansions in available habitat for 2 out of 6 invasive species under future (2100) climatic conditions. We detected high acoustic niche overlap between invasive and native amphibian species, underscoring that acoustic interference might reduce mating success in local frogs. Despite the American bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus being recognized as a potential reservoir for the frog-killing fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) in Brazil, we did not detect Bd in the recently introduced population of E. johnstonei and P. luteolus in the State of São Paulo. We emphasize that the number of invasive amphibian species in Brazil is increasing exponentially, highlighting the urgent need to monitor and control these populations and decrease potential impacts on the locally biodiverse wildlife.

Background: Many amphibian species are negatively affected by habitat change due to anthropogenic activities. Populations distributed over modified landscapes may be subject to local extinction or may be relegated to the remaining—likely isolated and possibly degraded—patches of available habitat. Isolation without gene flow could lead to variability in phenotypic traits owing to differences in local selective pressures such as environmental structure, microclimate, or site-specific species assemblages.Methods: Here, we tested the microevolution hypothesis by evaluating the acoustic parameters of 349 advertisement calls from 15 males from six populations of the endangered amphibian species Proceratophrys moratoi. In addition, we analyzed the genetic distances among populations and the genetic diversity with a haplotype network analysis. We performed cluster analysis on acoustic data based on the Bray-Curtis index of similarity, using the UPGMA method. We correlated acoustic dissimilarities (calculated by Euclidean distance) with geographical and genetic distances among populations.Results: Spectral traits of the advertisement call of P. moratoi presented lower coefficients of variation than did temporal traits, both within and among males. Cluster analyses placed individuals without congruence in population or geographical distance, but recovered the species topology in relation to sister species. The genetic distance among populations was low; it did not exceed 0.4% for the most distant populations, and was not correlated with acoustic distance.Discussion: Both acoustic features and genetic sequences are highly conserved, suggesting that populations could be connected by recent migrations, and that they are subject to stabilizing selective forces. Although further studies are required, these findings add to a growing body of literature suggesting that this species would be a good candidate for a reintroduction program without negative effects on communication or genetic impact.

Amphibians are among the most threatened vertebrates in the world and this is also true for those inhabiting the Atlantic Forest hotspot, living in ecosystems that are highly degraded and threatened by anthropogenic activities. We present a data set containing information about amphibian communities sampled throughout the Atlantic Forest Biome in South America. The data were extracted from 389 bibliographic references (articles, books, theses, and dissertations) representing inventories of amphibian communities from 1940 to 2017. The data set includes 17,619 records of 528 species with taxonomic certainty, from 1,163 study sites. Of all the records, 14,450 (82%) were classified using the criterion of endemism; of those, 7,787 (44%) were considered endemic and 6,663 (38%) were not. Historically, multiple sampling methods were used to survey amphibians, the most representative methods being active surveys (82.1%), surveys at breeding sites (20%), pitfall traps (15.3%), and occasional encounters (14.5%). Species richness averaged 15.2 ± 11.3 (mean ± SD), ranging from 1 to 80 species per site. We found a low dominance in the communities, with 10 species occurring in about 26% of communities: Physalaemus cuvieri (4.1%), Dendropsophus minutus (3.8%), Boana faber (3.1%), Scinax fuscovarius (2.8%), Leptodactylus latrans (2.7%), Leptodactylus fuscus (2.6%), Boana albopunctata (2.3%), Dendropsophus nanus (1.6%), Rhinella ornata (1.6%), and Leptodactylus mystacinus (1.6%). This data set represents a major effort to compile inventories of amphibian communities for the Neotropical region, filling a large gap in the data on the Atlantic Forest hotspot. We hope this data set can be used as a credible tool in the proposal of new studies on amphibian sampling and even in the development of conservation planning for these taxa. This information also has great relevance for macroecological studies, being foundational for both conservation and restoration strategies in this biodiversity hotspot. No copyright or proprietary restrictions are associated with the use of this data set. Please cite this data paper when the data are used in publications or teaching events.

While the speed of publication in academic journals has decreased over time, delays in the review process can still cause frustration and damage the authors’ career. During the COVID-19 lockdown, scientists struggled to manage tasks and academic journals announced possible publication delays due to reduced editorial capacity. In this context, COVID-19 research has been somewhat paradoxical, due to societal and editorial pressures for fast publication. We hypothesised that given the urgency of disseminating pandemic-related information, articles on the topic would be published as a priority in 2020. We analysed the submission-to-publication time lag for 5790 articles published between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2020 in eight ecology and eight medical journals. We also analysed patterns in the gender of first and last authors. All 16 journals were international, with relatively high impact factor (between 2.34 and 36.13) and partially or fully open access. Even though articles in general took longer to get published, the speed of publication increased in 2020, as the faster review of 419 COVID-19 articles compensated for the longer submission-to-publication time lag of non-COVID-19 publications. Manuscripts in journals with a higher impact factor and only partial open access took longer to get published during the last three years. In 2020, the ratio of articles with male and female first and last authors remained similar to that in 2019, maintaining the gender bias in scientific productivity. Female scientists, especially when they are providing maternity and other primary care, need more support for their careers, such as relief from teaching duties and adjustments on assessment criteria to access research funding. We advocate that topics besides COVID-19, particularly those that could help to solve other urgent crises, should also benefit from faster publication.

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