Composition and diversity of anurans in the largest conservation unit in Pampa biome, Brazil

Abstract

Grassy biomes occupy about 20% of the earth's surface, and are characteristic of northern Australia, Africa and South America, being biodiversity in these environments poorly understood. The Área de Proteção Ambiental (APA) do Ibirapuitã includes areas with the best-preserved grassland areas in the Pampa biome in Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. This study aimed to determine anuran species richness, abundance, constancy of occurrence, and reproductive modes, and to compare the taxonomic composition in the APA with other localities within the grassland areas of the southernmost of South America. We collected frogs from September to November 2012 and in November 2013 by sampling of reproductive sites. We also examined specimens deposited in herpetological collections. In total, 32 frog species were identified from the combination of larval and adult sampling and analysis of specimens deposited in scientific collections. The registered anurofauna is typical of grassland areas, with at least 10% restricted to the subtropical region of South America and at least two species considered endangered in state and global scales. The most abundant species was Pseudopaludicola falcipes and Hypsiboas pulchellus was the species most frequently found among sites. Five reproductive modes were recorded, and the most common mode consists of development of exotrophic tadpole and deposition in to lentic bodies of water (57.5%). Cluster analysis of 16 communities representing grassland locations presented five groups with more than 50% similarity, whose structure was influenced by geographic distance but can be partially interpreted by regional peculiarities (e.g. height and phytophysiognomies). Our results consist of initial knowledge base on the anurofauna of APA do Ibirapuitã, supporting recommendations for future conservation actions to APA and also for the grassland biomes, which are increasingly threatened by human activities.

Anuran diversity of four taxocenoses of the subtropical Atlantic Forest from Santa Catarina and Paraná states Brazil

“…The influence of geographic distances in anuran species composition was also evidenced in other studies (Bertoluci et al, 2007;Lucas & Fortes, 2008;Iop et al, 2011;Almeida-Gomes & Rocha, 2014;Bolzan et al, 2014) and the turnover is the major component that explains the differences of species composition of subtropical Atlantic Forest. The association between the turnover and geographical distances may be related to the differences in climate, phytophysionomy and landscape (Vasconcelos et al, 2014), in which the groups of cluster analysis have some correlation with the sub-regions of subtropical Atlantic Forest (Garcia et al, 2007).…”

“…These four taxocenoses were compared with other taxocenoses of the southern region of Brazil (Machado et al, 1999;Bernarde & Machado, 2000;Machado & Bernarde, 2002;Conte & Machado, 2005;Conte & Rossa-Feres, 2006;Machado & Bernarde, 2006;Conte & Rossa-Feres, 2007;Deiques et al, 2007;Colombo et al, 2008;Hartmann et al, 2008;Lucas & Forte, 2008;Armstrong & Conte, 2010;Kwet et al, 2010;Iop et al, 2011;Lucas & Marocco, 2011;Garey & Hartmann, 2012;Giasson, 2012;Bastiani & Lucas, 2013;Bolzan et al, 2014;Crivellari et al, 2014;Moreira et al, 2014;Santos & Conte, 2014;Wachlevski & Rocha, 2014;Nazaretti & Conte, 2015;Bolzan et al, 2016;Leivas & Hiert, 2016;Santos-Pereira et al, 2016;Ceron et al, 2017;De Lucca et al, 2017) to observe how are they grouped only using the data on richness (presence-absence). Only the species which have been identified to a specific level were used to compose the richness of the aforementioned studies, therefore the unidentified species affinis and confer were excluded from the analysis.…”

Effects of temperature and meal size on the postprandial metabolic response of Leptodactylus latrans (Anura, Leptodactylidae)

“…In the present study, we investigated the effects of two main influential determinants—meal size and temperature—on the postprandial metabolic response of a Neotropical frog, Leptodactylus latrans (STEFFEN 1815). This species is widely distributed in South America (Frost, ; Heyer et al, ), where it occupies various habitats, such as dense forests, open savannahs, and human altered environments, but always in close association with bodies of water (Almeida‐Gomes, Rocha, & Vieira, ; Bolzan, Saccol, & Santos, ; Brasileiro, Sawaya, Kiefer, & Martins, ). L. latrans grows up to 10 cm SVL and feeds upon a broad range of prey types and sizes, including various invertebrates and small vertebrates, such as fishes, rodents, and other anurans (see França et al, ; Mendes, Ruas, & Solé, ; Pinto, Lima, & Brandão, ; Solé et al, ; Teixeira & Vrcibradic, ).…”

Something is not quite right: Effects of two land uses on anuran diversity in subtropical grasslands

“…In our study, ponds in the sampled properties harbored half of the anuran species richness normally found in conservation areas of the Brazilian Pampa (André, Cechin, & Santos, 2019; Bolzan, Saccol, & Santos, 2016) and about 30% of the species registered at the Uruguayan savanna ecoregion (Canavero et al., 2010; Maneyro, 2008). Such impoverishment could be due to a sampling effect, because of low detection probabilities of many anuran species in the region (Moreira, Moura, & Maltchik, 2016).…”

“…In spite of the extensive geographic extension of the Uruguayan savanna ecoregion, few areas within it are protected by conservation units. It is interesting to note that the species registered as adults only have the southern limit of their geographical distribution in the border between Brazil and Uruguay ( P. cuvieri and S. fuscovarius ; Maneyro, 2008; Maneyro & Carreira, 2012) or have low frequency of occurrence in the region ( O. aromothyella , P. henselii , and R. diptycha ; Bolzan et al., 2014; Bolzan et al., 2016; Santos, Kopp, Spies, Trevisan, & Cechin, 2008). Moreover, they display an explosive reproduction strategy and are usually recorded after heavy rainfall events (>50 mm/day).…”