Insects are important ecosystem agents, however, in general, a decline in the composition and abundance of these animals around the globe has been observed. In the urban environment, this characteristic has been more critical, due to the lack of diversity and quality of habitats in these environments, which feature fragmentation of habitats. Thus, processes that naturally affect the composition of animals in the environment can be observed, shaping the abundance of species in their environments, processes such as seasonality, especially in tropical regions, with well-defined rain and dry seasons. Thus, the aim of this work was to evaluate the seasonality and abundance of insects in urban fragments in the Cerrado, for this purpose four urban fragments were sampled in Campo Grande MS, during the months of January to December 2012 using Malaise traps. 26,890 individuals of 19 orders were collected, where the abundance of insect orders stands out Diptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hemipetera and Trichoptera. A peak in general insect abundance was found in November, and there were significant differences over the months between different orders. However, no difference was found between the fragments, however, there was a trend towards changes in the diversity of orders related to the size of the fragments. The different strategies to deal with water stress well marked for the Cerrado is an important factor for the composition of the insect fauna of the domain and variations in the habitat, such as area size and phytosocionomic composition directly affect the orders found.

Anurans have a high reproductive diversity, which is closely associated with testicular dynamics and sperm production. This variety in reproduction is modulated by the sexual characteristics of reproductive strategies, such as polyandry. Leptodactylus podicipinus has high reproductive plasticity, wide geographical distribution, and polyandric behavior. Although aspects of the testes and sperm of this species are known, knowledge about the relationship between these aspects and reproductive investment is scarce. The present study evaluated the morphological characteristics of the testes and sperm in an urban environment. We used 11 sexually mature males from the city of Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. The specimens were obtained from night excursions between April and September, the months that constitute the postrainy season. The biometric data (snout-vent length, testes, and body mass) were associated with sperm parameters (length of the spermatozoon head and tail). Stereological analyses of sperm morphology and the testes were performed. The results showed correlations between testis mass and spermatozoon length, which were positively related to head length and negatively related to tail length. The locular area and tail length were also negatively correlated. The percentage of normal spermatozoa was 97%; however, some sperm heads and tails exhibited different morphologies from the pattern described for the species. The germinative structure comprised more than 50% of the locular area composed of spermatozoa. The results of this study contribute to the knowledge of aspects related to the reproductive biology of L. podicipinus obtained from an urban environment.