Amphibian community structure as a function of forest type in Amazonian Peru

Abstract

The potential effect of forest type on the structuring of animal communities in western Amazonia remains poorly understood. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that amphibian species richness, composition and abundance differ across forest types in the lowland rain forest of south-eastern Peru. By using 320 individual transects, we compared the amphibian assemblages across four major forest types (floodplain, terra firme, bamboo and palm swamp) at each of four sites separated by 3.5-105 km. We identified 1967 individuals of 65 species in 11 families and found that a large proportion of the amphibian diversity in this region is attributed to habitat-related beta diversity. Overall, we found that forest type is more important than site in predicting both species composition and abundance. We also found that, when analyses are conducted separately for each forest type and include species abundance data, similarity between assemblages decreases with increasing geographic distance. In contrast to studies that considered species presence/absence but ignored species abundances, our results highlight the importance of including abundance data in the assessment of animal diversity patterns in western Amazonia. We conclude that evaluating community structure across forest types can improve our understanding of diversity patterns in this region.

Amphibians of varzea environments and floating meadows of the oxbow lakes of the Middle Purus River, Amazonas, Brazil

“…Localities in the west of the biome, for example, seem to have higher amphibian diversity than other localities (Duellman 1999, Azevedo-Ramos & Galatti 2002. This information has been confirmed by the high number of species recorded in several studies conducted in recent years in the western region of the biome (Franc¸a & Venâncio 2010, Ilha & Dixo 2010, Bernarde et al 2011, Pantoja & Fraga 2012, Bernarde et al 2013, Prudente et al 2013, Waldez et al 2013. However, few studies focus on the importance of varzea environments (Pantoja & Fraga 2012, Bernarde et al 2013, Waldez et al 2013, and no studies have systematically sampled amphibian assemblages in abandoned oxbow lakes and in floating meadows.…”

The amphibians and reptiles of Manu National Park and its buffer zone, Amazon basin and eastern slopes of the Andes, Peru

“…Occurrence of taxa was determined on the basis of the original species descriptions, listings in species descriptions of similar or sympatric taxa, museum records and/or our own fieldwork in the region (Catenazzi & Rodriguez 2001, Duellman & Lehr 2009, von May 2009, 2010. Some species have not been reported from Manu NP or its buffer zone, but occur both north and south of the area, such that their presence in Manu NP is very likely.…”

Anuros da Reserva Natural Salto Morato, Guaraqueçaba, Paraná, Brasil

“…Agradecemos a Fundação Grupo Boticário de Proteção à Natureza pelo acesso a área de estudo, apoio logístico e financeiro (convênio FBPN -UFPR 623). Durante a preparação deste manuscrito M. V. Garey teve bolsa da FAPESP (processo: 2008/50575-1 DeVries et al 1999, Armbruster et al 2002, inclusive anfíbios (e.g., Vasudevan et al 2008, Von May 2010, resultando numa diminuição da probabilidade de registro dessas espécies.…”