Do flood pulses structure amphibian communities in floodplain environments?

Abstract

Beta diversity can provide insights into the processes that regulate communities subjected to frequent disturbances, such as flood pulses, which control biodiversity in floodplains. However, little is known about which processes structure beta diversity of amphibians in floodplains. Here, we tested the influence of flood pulses on the richness, composition, and beta diversity of amphibians in Amazonian floodplain environments. We also evaluated indicator species for each environment. We established linear transects in three environments: low várzea, high várzea, and macrophyte rafts. Species richness decreased and beta diversity increased according to the susceptibility of habitats to flood pulses. Indicator species differed among environments according to forest succession promoted by the flood pulse. The decrease in species richness between high and low várzea is due to non‐random extinctions. The higher rates of species turnover between várzeas and macrophyte rafts are driven by the colonization of species adapted to open areas. Our results highlight that the maintenance of complex environments is needed to protect biodiversity in floodplains.

Habitats determining local frog assemblages within aquatic macrophyte meadows in Amazonia, through species traits filtering

“…2017; Ramalho et al . 2017). However, despite the wide distribution at macroscales, our models detected non‐random frog assemblages composed of species locally restricted to optimal fractions of environmental gradients.…”

“…2017; Ramalho et al . 2017). However, in our study, climbing species were more restricted to relatively shallow plots, which suggest that they must have some difficulty reaching deep‐water sites through dispersal over the vegetation cover, although some of the sampled climbing species are apparently good jumpers (e.g.…”

“…2016; Ramalho et al . 2017). Therefore, investigating factors that predict assemblages within macrophyte meadows seems relevant to ecology and biodiversity conservation, although this has rarely been done.…”

The role of ecological opportunity in shaping host–parasite networks

“…The hydrological dynamic in wetlands, regulated by seasonal floods (flood pulse), provides an opportunity to test the influence of environmental heterogeneity in species interactions. The seasonal floods have been pointed as a major force determining biotic interactions (Agostinho et al ., 2000), where more homogenous communities are expected during floods than during non-flood periods (Bozelli, 1992; Thomaz et al ., 1997; Agostinho et al ., 2000; Ramalho et al ., 2018). The increase in water levels represents an expansion event for aquatic and semiaquatic organisms (such as anurans), which provides the ecological opportunity for encounters between some parasites and host species and may also result in new interactions.…”

Satellite image texture for the assessment of tropical anuran communities

“…For tropical anurans, environmental heterogeneity is an important driver of compositional differences among communities (Ramalho, Machado & Vieira, ; Rodrígues‐Mendoza & Pineda, ) . Local environmental features, generally measured in situ, are commonly employed to predict patterns of species diversity (Both, Cechin, Melo & Hartz, ; Keller, Rodel, Linsenmair & Grafe, ).…”