Amphibians are among the most threatened vertebrates in the world and this is also true for those inhabiting the Atlantic Forest hotspot, living in ecosystems that are highly degraded and threatened by anthropogenic activities. We present a data set containing information about amphibian communities sampled throughout the Atlantic Forest Biome in South America. The data were extracted from 389 bibliographic references (articles, books, theses, and dissertations) representing inventories of amphibian communities from 1940 to 2017. The data set includes 17,619 records of 528 species with taxonomic certainty, from 1,163 study sites. Of all the records, 14,450 (82%) were classified using the criterion of endemism; of those, 7,787 (44%) were considered endemic and 6,663 (38%) were not. Historically, multiple sampling methods were used to survey amphibians, the most representative methods being active surveys (82.1%), surveys at breeding sites (20%), pitfall traps (15.3%), and occasional encounters (14.5%). Species richness averaged 15.2 ± 11.3 (mean ± SD), ranging from 1 to 80 species per site. We found a low dominance in the communities, with 10 species occurring in about 26% of communities: Physalaemus cuvieri (4.1%), Dendropsophus minutus (3.8%), Boana faber (3.1%), Scinax fuscovarius (2.8%), Leptodactylus latrans (2.7%), Leptodactylus fuscus (2.6%), Boana albopunctata (2.3%), Dendropsophus nanus (1.6%), Rhinella ornata (1.6%), and Leptodactylus mystacinus (1.6%). This data set represents a major effort to compile inventories of amphibian communities for the Neotropical region, filling a large gap in the data on the Atlantic Forest hotspot. We hope this data set can be used as a credible tool in the proposal of new studies on amphibian sampling and even in the development of conservation planning for these taxa. This information also has great relevance for macroecological studies, being foundational for both conservation and restoration strategies in this biodiversity hotspot. No copyright or proprietary restrictions are associated with the use of this data set. Please cite this data paper when the data are used in publications or teaching events.
Aim: Climate and host richness are essential drivers of global gradients in parasite diversity, and the few existing studies on parasites have mostly investigated their effects separately. The advantages of combining these factors into a single analytical framework include unravelling the relative roles of abiotic and biotic drivers of parasite diversity. We compiled a dataset of helminths of amphibians to investigate the direct and indirect effects of temperature seasonality, annual precipitation, precipitation seasonality and host richness as drivers of parasite diversity at the global scale. Our analyses focus not only on the least studied group of vertebrates regarding macroecology of parasite diversity, but also the host group most sensitive to climatic conditions, especially temperature seasonality and water availability.
A robust understanding of what drives parasite β-diversity is an essential step towards explaining what limits pathogens' geographical spread. We used a novel global dataset (latitude −39.8 to 61.05 and longitude −117.84 to 151.49) on helminths of anurans to investigate how the relative roles of climate, host composition and spatial distance to parasite β-diversity vary with spatial scale (global, Nearctic and Neotropical), parasite group (nematodes and trematodes) and host taxonomic subset (family). We found that spatial distance is the most important driver of parasite β-diversity at the global scale. Additionally, we showed that the relative effects of climate concerning distance increase at the regional scale when compared with the global scale and that trematodes are generally more responsive to climate than nematodes. Unlike previous studies done at the regional scale, we did not find an effect of host composition on parasite β-diversity. Our study presents a new contribution to parasite macroecological theory, evidencing spatial and taxonomic contingencies of parasite β-diversity patterns, which are related to the zoogeographical realm and host taxonomic subset, respectively. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Infectious disease macroecology: parasite diversity and dynamics across the globe’.
Current climate change is disrupting biotic interactions and eroding biodiversity worldwide. However, species sensitive to aridity, high temperatures, and climate variability might find shelter in microclimatic refuges, such as leaf rolls built by arthropods. To explore how the importance of leaf shelters for terrestrial arthropods changes with latitude, elevation, and climate, we conducted a distributed experiment comparing arthropods in leaf rolls versus control leaves across 52 sites along an 11,790 km latitudinal gradient. We then probed the impact of short‐ versus long‐term climatic impacts on roll use, by comparing the relative impact of conditions during the experiment versus average, baseline conditions at the site. Leaf shelters supported larger organisms and higher arthropod biomass and species diversity than non‐rolled control leaves. However, the magnitude of the leaf rolls’ effect differed between long‐ and short‐term climate conditions, metrics (species richness, biomass, and body size), and trophic groups (predators vs. herbivores). The effect of leaf rolls on predator richness was influenced only by baseline climate, increasing in magnitude in regions experiencing increased long‐term aridity, regardless of latitude, elevation, and weather during the experiment. This suggests that shelter use by predators may be innate, and thus, driven by natural selection. In contrast, the effect of leaf rolls on predator biomass and predator body size decreased with increasing temperature, and increased with increasing precipitation, respectively, during the experiment. The magnitude of shelter usage by herbivores increased with the abundance of predators and decreased with increasing temperature during the experiment. Taken together, these results highlight that leaf roll use may have both proximal and ultimate causes. Projected increases in climate variability and aridity are, therefore, likely to increase the importance of biotic refugia in mitigating the effects of climate change on species persistence.
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