Dataset of occurrences and ecological traits of amphibians from Upper Paraguay River Basin, central South America

Abstract

There are many gaps in our biodiversity knowledge, especially in highly diverse regions such as the Neotropics. Basic information on species occurrence and traits are scattered throughout different literature sources, which makes it difficult to access data and ultimately delays advances in ecology, evolution, and conservation biology. We provide species occurrence and trait data for amphibian species in the Upper Paraguay River Basin, central South America. The compiled information is made available through two different datasets that hold (i) 17K species occurrence records and (ii) 30 species-level traits for 113 amphibian species. The first dataset includes the species occurrence records and informs specimen id, collection of housing, locality, geographical coordinates, geographic accuracy, collection date, and collector name. The second dataset covers species-level attributes on morphometry, diet, activity, habitat, and breeding strategy. These datasets improve accessibility to spatial and trait data for amphibian species in the Pantanal ecoregion, one of the largest wetlands on Earth.

A Comprehensive Review of Patented Antimicrobial Peptides from Amphibian Anurans

“…Thus, as exemplified with Brazil, it is clear that the need for policies incentivizing such studies, including funds and resources, is crucial to unlocking the full potential of these highly biodiverse regions for novel drug discovery and conservation efforts. [91][92][93][94][95][96]100,101 Primary Goals of Patented AMPs from Anuran Amphibians. Moreover, through the analysis of the information obtained, the primary purposes of the patents have been established into three groups: (1) structural targets (amino acid sequence of AMPs, amino acid sequence derivatives, and nucleotide sequence), (2) biological activities (antimicrobial activity, cytotoxic activity, antiviral activity, and other activities); and (3) applications (pharmaceutical composition, medical treatment, and production methods).…”

“…Despite the high diversity of amphibians found in South America, Central America, and Africa, − we found that the percentage of patents related to AMPs granted in these regions is low (South America, 3.7%) or nonexistent. The fact that South America has 15.0% of the natural AMPs described in the literature (Figure A,B and Supporting Information 1.1–1.3) makes these numbers even more surprising.…”

“…Thus, not surprisingly, Brazil, which has made continuous scientific investments since more than two decades ago, with a marked interruption between 2016 and 2022, is a notorious exception. Brazil has significantly increased the knowledge of its amphibian diversity, ,, with 1178 described species, and it is the only country in the region with identified granted patents related to anuran AMPs (Figure C and Supporting Information 1.1 and 1.2).…”

“…The factors contributing to this research gap in Africa and Central and South America include challenging access to remote areas but mainly a lack of funding for conducting basic and applied research. Thus, as exemplified with Brazil, it is clear that the need for policies incentivizing such studies, including funds and resources, is crucial to unlocking the full potential of these highly biodiverse regions for novel drug discovery and conservation efforts. − ,, …”

Modeling the potential distribution to present and future of the poorly known species Xenohyla eugenioi Caramaschi, 1998 (Anura: Hylidae) with findings about its distribution, natural history, and conservation

“…Furthermore, ecological drivers such as the set of environmental conditions provide a favorable habitat for the establishment of species (Soberón, 2007). For example, studies about resources used by anurans have shown how the biotic (e.g., calling sites and prey availability) and abiotic (e.g., temperature and humidity) factors bias their occurrence (Bertoluci & Rodrigues, 2002;Xavier et al, 2015;Neves et al, 2020;Ceron et al, 2022). Understanding the distribution patterns of species provides an assessment of the risks to which it is subjected and is an important tool for determining priority areas for conservation (Guisan et al, 2013).…”