Influence of terrestrial habitat isolation on the diversity and temporal distribution of anurans in an agricultural landscape

Silva, Fernando Rodrigues da; Rossa‐Feres, Denise de Cerqueira

doi:10.1017/s0266467410000842

Cited by 27 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Distance from forests was also an important variable for some species. More specifically, pools near forest fragments supported the greatest abundance of E. bicolor and E. nattereri, two small burrowing frogs that probably have low capacity of dispersal, corroborating results of other studies (e.g., Laan and Verboom 1990;Findlay and Houlahan 1997;Herrmann et al 2005;Otto et al 2007;Silva and Rossa-Feres 2011). The vulnerability of many amphibians due to physiological limitations (Duellman and Trueb 1994), low mobility (Gibbs 1998), and high mortality during dispersal through roads or inhospitable areas (Fahrig et al 1995;Becker et al 2007) are likely factors that limit the colonization and favor the extinction of species in highly isolated pools (Silva and Rossa-Feres 2011).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Breeding Habitat and Landscape Correlates of Frog Diversity and Abundance in a Tropical Agricultural Landscape

Silva¹,

Gibbs

Rossa‐Feres

2011

Wetlands

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The biodiversity values of temporary pools in tropical ecosystems are poorly understood. Such wetlands are often threatened by agriculture. Constructed pools provide a means to mitigate for loss of natural pools but design features associated with restoration successful are not known. In this paper, we evaluated the effects of environmental variables at local (breeding pools) and regional spatial scales (landscape configuration) on species richness and abundance of anurans in heavily altered landscapes of southeastern Brazil. Frog and toad communities of 18 constructed temporary breeding pools were sampled every 2 weeks from October 2008 to March 2009. Two variables-hydroperiod and percentage of vegetation in the interior of the pools-explained 62% of species richness variation. Three other variables-pool area, distance of pools to forest fragments, and distance of pools to road-explained between 22 and 46% of the variation in frog and toad abundance. Our results indicate that localand regional-scale variables, and their interaction, are important drivers of the structure of frog and toad communities in these agricultural landscapes. To facilitate amphibian conservation we suggest that cattle ranchers create and maintain heavily vegetated temporary pools near protected forest reserves as both a water source for livestock and breeding habitat for amphibians.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Breeding Habitat and Landscape Correlates of Frog Diversity and Abundance in a Tropical Agricultural Landscape

Silva¹,

Gibbs

Rossa‐Feres

2011

Wetlands

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“…; Silva et al . , ; Silva & Rossa‐Feres ). Moderated isolation of the water bodies (up to 330 m in this study) can increase the occurrence of several taxa, including anurans, because isolation prevents the establishment of top predators like fishes (Scheffer et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…). However, the dispersal limitations of the study taxa (Smith & Green ; Silva & Rossa‐Feres ), associated with the characteristics of the study region, are capable of generating true neutral dynamics in anuran metacommunities. Thus, limited and random dispersal defines which species are sorted by the environment (Rominger et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of niche and neutral processes on a neotropical anuran metacommunity

Prado¹,

Rossa‐Feres

2014

Austral Ecology

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One of the most important questions in ecology is the relative importance of local conditions (niche processes) and dispersal ability (neutral processes) in driving metacommunity structure. Although many studies have been conducted in recent years, there is still much debate. We evaluated the processes (niche and neutral) responsible for variation in anuran composition in 28 lentic water bodies in southeastern Brazil. Because anurans depend heavily on environmental conditions, we hypothesized that environmental variables (niche processes) are the most important drivers of community composition. Additionally, as anurans have limited dispersal abilities, and the study region presents harsh conditions (high forest fragmentation, low rainfall and long dry season), we expected a lower, but significant, spatial signature in metacommunity structure, due to neutral dynamics. We used a partial redundancy analysis with variation partitioning to evaluate the relative influence of environmental and spatial variables as drivers of metacommunity structure. Additionally, we used a recently developed spatial autocorrelation analysis to test if neutral dynamics can be attributed to the pure spatial component. This analysis is based on predictions that species abundances are independent but similarly spatially structured, with correlograms similar in shape. Therefore, under neutral dynamics there is no expectation of a correlation between the pairwise distance of spatial correlograms and the pairwise correlation of species abundances predicted by the pure spatial component. We found that the environmental component explained 21.5%, the spatial component 10.2%, and the shared component 6.4% of the metacommunity structure. We found no correlation between correlograms and correlation of abundances predicted by the pure spatial component (Mantel test = −0.109, P = 0.961). In our study, niche-based processes are the dominant process that explained community composition. However, neutral processes are important because spatial variation can be attributed to pure neutral dynamics rather than to missing spatially structured environmental factors.

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“…In areas of open vegetation, the presence and abundance of a species may be associated with availability of favorable sites for reproduction, as well as the structural features of the reproductive sites (Prado et al 2005, Vasconcelos et al 2009, Silva and Rossa-Feres 2011, Silva et al 2012. A distinct pattern is found in the ecotones, where there are resources belonging to both types of vegetation, with greater environmental complexity and richness of organisms (Ries et al 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of phytophysiognomies and seasonality on the structure of ground-dwelling anuran (Amphibia) in the Pampa biome, southern Brazil

Maragno

Santos

Cechin

2013

An. Acad. Bras. Ciênc.

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Considering that habitat use by amphibians is related both with climate and environmental features, we tested the hypothesis that anuran assemblages found in different phytophysiognomies and in different seasons vary in structure. Additionally, we searched for species which can be indicators of habitat and seasons. The study was conducted in the Pampa biome, southern Brazil. Sampling was done through pitfall traps placed in three phytophysiognomies: grassland, ecotone grassland/forest; and forest. The seasonality factor was created by grouping months in warn and cold seasons. Sixteen species were found and the assemblages were influenced both by phytophysiognomies and climatic seasonality. In a paired comparison, the three phytophysiognomies differed in structure of assemblage from each other. Physalaemus henselii, P. riograndensis, Pseudopaludicola falcipes and Pseudis minuta were indicators of ecotone. Leptodactylus gracilis and Physalaemus biligonigerus were indicators of grassland. None species was indicator of forest. Most of the species were indicators of warm season: Elachistocleis bicolor, Leptodactylus fuscus, L. gracilis, L. latinasus, L. latrans, L. mystacinus, Physalaemus biligonigerus, P. cuvieri and Pseudis minuta. None species was indicator of cold season. We found that even for species of open areas, as Pampa, heterogeneous phytophysiognomies are important for maintaining abundance and constancy of populations of anuran.

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Influence of terrestrial habitat isolation on the diversity and temporal distribution of anurans in an agricultural landscape

Cited by 27 publications

References 16 publications

Breeding Habitat and Landscape Correlates of Frog Diversity and Abundance in a Tropical Agricultural Landscape

Breeding Habitat and Landscape Correlates of Frog Diversity and Abundance in a Tropical Agricultural Landscape

The influence of niche and neutral processes on a neotropical anuran metacommunity

The role of phytophysiognomies and seasonality on the structure of ground-dwelling anuran (Amphibia) in the Pampa biome, southern Brazil

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