Composition and diversity of anurans in the Restinga of the Conde municipality, northern coast of the state of Bahia, northeastern Brazil

Abstract

The Conde municipality is located in the northern coast of the state of Bahia (NC), northeastern Brazil, and is part of the Atlantic Tropical domain. The anuran fauna of the northern portion of the NC is still poorly known if compared to the southern portion. The Restinga is one of the predominant environments of the coastal plains of the NC and it is characterized essentially by presenting sandy soil covered by herbaceous and shrubby vegetation. The objective of this study was to determine the anuran species composition and diversity for the Restinga of the Conde municipality. Sampling was carried out at night by active search over four periods of five consecutive days each, two over the 'main rainy season' and two in a 'lesser rainy season', using 14 sample units (SUs) and five extra sample plots (EPs). We calculated dominance and species diversity using the Berger-Parker and Shannon-Wiener H' indices, respectively. We used accumulation curves and the Jackknife 1 estimator to estimate anuran species richness, considering only the data obtained from the SUs. We recorded 713 anuran specimens distributed within 33 species, 13 genera and five families (Bufonidae, Craugastoridae, Hylidae, Leptodactylidae and Microhylidae). The Hylidae and Leptodactylidae families had the highest species richness. Considering only the SUs (Jackknife 1 estimator in brackets), we recorded 28 species in the study area (33.9 ± 2.3), 13 in Shrubby Vegetation Zones - SVZ (20.8 ± 2.9) and 25 in Freshwater Wetland Zones - FWZ (28.9 ± 1.9). The abundance and species diversity of the FWZ (n = 638 specimens; H'= 2.4) were higher than those recorded for the SVZ (n = 52 specimens; H' = 1.9). The SVZ and FWZ showed distinct dominant species, wherein Pristimantis paulodutrai was the dominant species in SVZ and Scinax fuscomarginatus in FWZ. The Restinga of the Conde municipality stands out as the one with the highest anuran species richness already recorded considering only SVZ and FWZ. Moreover, its anuran species composition represented 55% of the anuran species known for the NC and included taxa common to three different morphoclimatic domains (Tropical Atlantic, Cerrado and Caatinga).

Amphibians found in the Amazonian Savanna of the Rio Curiaú Environmental Protection Area in Amapá, Brazil

“…However, the number of species observed (28) was lower than that estimated by Chao 2 (29.96±2.3 species) and Jackknife 2 (33.96±3.1 species). A similar pattern was observed by Gondim-Silva et al (2016) in a study of anurans in the Brazilian state of Bahia.…”

Influence of habitat heterogeneity on anuran diversity in Restinga landscapes of the Parnaíba River delta, northeastern Brazil

“…The Restinga of the Parnaíba River Delta have the fourth highest anuran richness in this type of environment in Brazil and the third in northeastern Brazil (21 species). The Restinga areas with the highest anuran diversity were encountered in the municipalities of Mata de São João (34 species; Bastazini et al 2007 , Oliveira and Rocha 2015 , Xavier et al 2015 ) and Conde (33 species; Gondim-Silva et al 2016 ), both in the state of Bahia, and in the municipality of Grumari, Rio de Janeiro state (22 species; Telles et al 2012 ).…”

“…Species distributions and associations with Brazilian morphoclimatic domains ( Ab’Sáber 1977 ) were obtained from literature records ( Bastazini et al 2007 , Valdujo et al 2012 , Roberto et al 2013 , Gondim-Silva et al 2016 ). Species that occurs in the four Brazilian morphoclimatic domains were considered of wide distribution (Appendix 1 ).…”

Amphibians of the Parque Nacional da Restinga de Jurubatiba, a sandy coastal environment in southeastern Brazil

“…The 36 species registered for the PNRJ in the present study correspond to 24.8% of all the amphibian richness found in the ecosystem comprising restingas (Oliveira & Rocha 2015), standing out as the restinga environment with the highest amphibian species richness recorded. Some other areas of restinga with studied amphibian communities are: Mata de São João, in the state of Bahia, with 34 recorded species (Bastazini et al 2007); restinga of the municipality of Conde, in the state of Bahia, with 33 species (Gondim-Silva et al 2016); Parque Natural Municipal de Grumari, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, with 22 species (Telles et al 2012); Estação Ecológica Juréia-Itatins, in the state of São Paulo, with 20 species (Narvaes et al 2009); Parque Estadual da Ilha do Cardoso, in the state of São Paulo, with 17 species (Vilela et al 2011); Baixada do Maciambu, in the state of Santa Catarina, with 15 species (Wachlevski & Rocha 2010); Restinga da Barra de Maricá, state of Rio de Janeiro, with 14 recorded species (Silva et al 1988); Praia das Neves, in the state of Espírito Santo, with 13 species (Rocha et al 2008), and Marambaia, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, with 12 species (Silva et al 2008).…”

“…Some studies related to amphibians assemblage in restingas have been carried out in the last years in order to provide a more detailed inventory of their composition (e.g. Bastazini et al 2007;Rocha et al 2008;Narvaes et al 2009, Wachlevski & Rocha 2010Vilela et al 2011;Telles et al 2012;Oliveira & Rocha 2015;Gondim-Silva et al 2016;Oliveira et al 2017).…”