Abstract:The Brazilian cerrado is a hotspot of biodiversity, areas with many endemic species subjected to severe habitat loss. About 150 amphibian species are known to the Brazilian cerrado, and 28% of them are endemic. Studies focusing cerrado anuran communities are rare. Here we provide a commented list of anurans of two conservation unities of the municipality of Assis, southeastern Brazil: the Estação Ecológica de Assis and the Floresta Estadual de Assis. Twenty three anuran species were recorded, and these belong to 13 genera and six families. The anuran fauna of the cerrado of Assis is dominated by the families Hylidae (eight species) and Leptodactylidae (six species), a pattern commonly found in neotropical sites. Species richness and taxonomic composition at the family level were similar to those of other Brazilian cerrados and perturbed areas characterized by deforestation and increase of open areas. The taxocenosis contains species widespread in open formations of the Cerrado-Caatinga-Chaco complex.
The goal of this work was to study the species composition, the use of breeding sites, and the seasonal patterns of breeding activity of the anuran fauna from Parque Estadual Carlos Botelho - Núcleo Sete Barras, state of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil. Fieldwork was carried out from September 2005 to October 2007 through two main methods: active visual search inside a 10 ha- permanent plot and aural and visual search in seven previously selected aquatic breeding habitats. Species richness was related to the sampling effort by means of species accumulation curve and through non-parametric estimators. Thirty-three species distributed in 12 families were recorded, from which 69% are endemic to the Atlantic Forest. Trachycephalus mesophaeus represents a new record for the park. Cycloramphus lutzorum is included as Data Deficient in the IUCN list. The species accumulation curve did not stabilize, showing some tendency to rise. The use of breeding sites by 20 species was compared using cluster analysis, which revealed two major groups: the first with five species (two habitat generalists and three stream specialists) and the second composed by the other species (with different reproductive modes associated with flooded environments). The breeding period of most species was associated to the rainy season (October to February), and only Scinax hayii showed continuous breeding activity during the entire period of study.
Although the species-area relationship is well known, it may interact with and be augmented or cancelled out by other factors, such as local human disturbance. We used data on site occupancy of the Endangered blonde capuchin monkey (Sapajus flavius) based primarily on a standardized program of local interviews to model the influence of past human disturbance on the occurrence of this species across remaining forest patches of northeastern Brazil within the Atlantic Forest and Caatinga biomes. To do so, we assessed environmental covariates that best represent the history of human impacts. We then used single-species occupancy models to assess site occupancy, while controlling for detection error during sampling. Surprisingly, we obtained a higher occupancy rate in the more arid Caatinga remnants than in the more mesic Atlantic Forest. Habitat patch size, history of site protection, and annual precipitation were the best predictors of local occupancy. Historical human disturbance, including subsistence hunting, has exerted considerable impact on the modern distribution of the blonde capuchin, whose geographic range largely spans a region historically lacking any wildlife protection.Matrix vegetation structure across the Caatinga, which so far has averted large-scale mechanized agriculture, also creates a benign landscape that likely benefits contemporary capuchin occupancy. Local extinctions of this endangered primate will most likely continue unabated unless a ban on hunting in remaining Atlantic Forest and Caatinga fragments can be enforced.
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