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Aim We aimed to assess the generality of existing models of late Quaternary biodiversity refugia in the Brazilian Atlantic forest by testing whether taxonomic identity and range descriptors influence the extent by which previously proposed models of forest (habitat) refugia successfully predict species' inferred refugial areas. Location Brazilian rain forest. Methods We compiled and filtered records of 14 animal species that belong to distantly related groups (spiders, harvestmen, scorpions, amphibians, birds, lizards and mammals) and show distinct distribution patterns within the Atlantic rain forest. Using MAXENT, we generated three distribution models for each species under different climatic scenarios (current, 6000 and 21,000 years ago). Species‐specific historically stable areas (refugia) were identified through the intersection of the three models. We then measured the amount of ‘inclusion’ of species‐specific refugia within published forest refugia, and quantified ‘filling’ of the biome refugia by species‐specific refugia. The influence of taxonomic distance between species and range descriptors were analysed. Results Current distribution models generated for the 14 species had high accuracy (AUC > 0.9). Inclusion and filling, two uncorrelated metrics, varied among species and were not influenced by taxonomic identity. Species range characteristics influenced forest model filling only, with higher values found in widely distributed species (i.e. occurring from Northeastern to Southeastern Brazil). Main conclusions Species‐specific and forest refugial areas are not necessarily the same. The power of forest refugial models to predict species‐specific refugial area differs among species and may be influenced by range attributes. Species data suggests the existence of a large refugium in Southeast of Brazil, a result at odds with the currently available forest‐wide models. The predictive power of forest refugial models is narrowed; we now better understand their applicability limits.

The state of Bahia's main climatic characteristic is the high spatial and chronological variability of precipitation. This heterogeneity may be used to determine of pluviometrically homogeneous areas that can define mesoregions in the state, since they allow better management of water resources and help in the elaboration of agricultural studies. The mesoregions already proposed by the scientific community for the state were based only on the annual precipitation in the proximity of the pluviometric stations. In this paper, besides these parameters, spatial and chronological rainfall distribution was considered, i.e., the Precipitation Concentration Degree (PCD) and Precipitation Concentration Period (PCP). The new zoning is based on an update of a study defined in 2000 that divided Bahia into eight mesoregions. Thus, 180 pluviometric stations were distributed throughout the state and grouped conforming to the division previously described. It was concluded that some stations of the same mesoregion had presented conflicting values for the analyzed parameters and, therefore, should not belong to the same area. Starting from an arrangement of the collection stations, considering their proximity, annual precipitation and statistical parameters, a new zoning for Bahia with 10 clusters was defined and validated through the statistical treatment of data. Zoneamento pluviométrico do Estado da Bahia, Brasil: uma proposta de atualização RESUMO O estado da Bahia possui como principal característica climática, a alta variabilidade espacial e temporal das precipitações. Essa heterogeneidade conduz à determinação de áreas pluviometricamente homogêneas, uma vez que estas permitem uma melhor gestão dos recursos hídricos e auxiliam na elaboração de estudos agrícolas. As propostas de mesorregiões já realizadas no meio científico para o estado se basearam apenas na precipitação anual e na proximidade dos postos pluviométricos. Porém nesse artigo, além desses parâmetros, foram utilizadas grandezas estatísticas que levam em consideração a distribuição espacial e temporal Rev. Ambient. Água vol. 13 n. 1, e2171-Taubaté 2018 2 Yagho de Souza Simões et al. das chuvas, como o Grau de Concentração da Precipitação (GCP) e o Período de Concentração da Precipitação (PCP). O novo zoneamento se baseia em uma atualização de um estudo definido em 2000 que repartiu a Bahia em oito mesorregiões. Para isso, 180 postos pluviométricos foram distribuídos pelo estado e agrupados conforme a repartição descrita anteriormente. A partir da análise dos parâmetros de chuva para as estações de um mesmo agrupamento foi constatado que alguns postos pluviométricos, pertencentes a uma mesma mesorregião, apresentaram valores discrepantes para os parâmetros analisados e, portanto, não deveriam ocupar a mesma área. A partir de um ordenamento dos postos de coleta, levando em consideração a proximidade dos mesmos, a precipitação total anual e as grandezas estatísticas, foi definido um novo zoneamento para a Bahia com 10 agrupamentos e validação comprovada através de ...

Animals that select and defend suitable habitats against conspecifics may be favored by maximizing prey encounter rate, gaining protection, or securing matings. However, the identification of habitat selection and territoriality may be hindered in observational studies in sedentary species with low-density populations, such as the whip spider Heterophrynus longicornis. To circumvent such difficulties, we adopted an experimental field approach to evaluate if H. longicornis selects and defends habitat in Central Amazon. To evaluate whether individuals perform habitat selection, we monitored the permanence of 29 experimentally released individuals in buttressed trees with a wide variation in diameter at breast height (DBH), with and without burrows at their bases. To evaluate whether individuals are territorial, we experimentally removed 21 individuals from their previously occupied trees and monitored the recolonization of these trees. If H. longicornis were territorial, we predicted that the recolonizers would be smaller than the removed individuals. We found 12 individuals in the trees where they were released on subsequent days, none of them in trees without burrows. The individual permanence was related to the presence of burrows, and not to DBH. There was recolonization by smaller males and females on ten trees from which the amblypygids were removed. In combination, the permanence of individuals in trees with burrows, the rapid recolonization of experimentally vacated trees by smaller individuals, and the preponderance of one individual per tree, suggest that both male and female H. longicornis perform habitat selection and also that after selecting a site, they defend it against conspecifics.