Anurans of the Serra do Caraça, southeastern Brazil: species composition and phenological patterns of calling activity

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Annual patterns of calling and breeding activity of 38 anuran species were studied at Serra do Caraça, an 11,233 ha reserve located in a contact zone between Cerrado and Atlantic forest at the southern Espinhaço range, southeastern Brazil. Five patterns were evident: (1) species that call year-round or nearly year-round with larger aggregations generally observed in the rainy months, (2) species with opportunistic calling activity associated with rainfall during the wettest months of the year, (3) winter species, (4) explosive breeders with intense calling activity triggered by heavy rains during the rainy season or only in the beginning of the rainy season, and (5) summer species with variable breeding seasons. Both the monthly number of species with calling males and the monthly number of species that showed the maximum class of calling males were positively correlated with both mean monthly temperature and monthly precipitation. KEYWORDS.Anurans, breeding phenology, Atlantic rainforest, montane meadows, southeastern Brazil.RESUMO. Anuros da Serra do Caraça, sudeste do Brasil: composição de espécies e padrões sazonais de atividade vocal. Estudamos os padrões anuais de atividade vocal e reprodutiva de 38 espécies de anuros da Serra do Caraça, uma reserva de 11.233 ha localizada na zona de contato entre o Cerrado e a Mata Atlântica na porção sul da Cadeia do Espinhaço, Minas Gerais, Sudeste do Brasil. Cinco padrões foram evidenciados: (1) espécies que vocalizaram o ano todo ou quase o ano todo com agregações maiores geralmente observadas na estação chuvosa, (2) espécies com atividade vocal oportunista associada à precipitação durante os meses mais úmidos, (3) espécies de inverno, (4) espécies com reprodução explosiva com atividade vocal disparada por chuvas intensas durante a estação chuvosa ou apenas no início dessa estação e (5) espécies de verão com temporadas de vocalização variáveis. O número de espécies vocalmente ativas e o número de espécies que apresentaram agregações máximas de machos ativos mostraram-se positivamente correlacionados tanto com a temperatura média mensal como com a precipitação mensal acumulada. PALAVRAS-CHAVE.Anura, fenologia reprodutiva, Mata Atlântica, campos rupestres, sudeste do Brasil.Exogenous factors as rainfall and temperature strongly influence anuran breeding activity both in

Anurans in a forest remnant in the transition zone between cerrado and atlantic rain forest domains in southeastern Brazil

“…The EMR has a large environmental heterogeneity, presenting a mosaic of habitats from open areas to forests, providing a high resources variety, which has also been shown in other studies (Pedralli et al 2001, Canelas and Bertoluci 2007, São Pedro and Feio 2010, São Pedro and Feio 2011. According to Rapini et al (2008) and Versieux et al (2008), the same pattern of great richness is observed for the flora of the rocky meadows of the EMR which also presents a high endemism rate.…”

“…The species richness of this conservation unit is only surpassed by Serra do Ouro Branco, with 47 species (São Pedro and Feio 2011), and RPPN Serra do Caraça, with 43 species (Canelas and Bertoluci 2007). The recording of the species Hylodes babax represents the first record for the Quadrilátero Ferrífero region (Pirani et al 2010).…”

“…The Sorensen index (Krebs 1999) was used to verify the similarity in anurans species composition at FLOE uaimií to the following mountain regions of south-central and south-eastern Minas Gerais state: Serra do Ouro Branco (São Pedro and Feio 2011), Parque Estadual do Itacolomi and Estação Ecológica do Tripuí (PE Itacolomi/EE Tripuí) (Pedralli et al 2001), Parque Nacional Serra do Cipó (PARNA Cipó) (Eterovick and Sazima 2004), Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Nacional da Serra do Caraça (RPPN Serra do Caraça) (Canelas and Bertoluci 2007), in the EMR; and Parque Estadual da Serra do Brigadeiro (PESB) (Moura et al 2012), Parque Estadual do Ibitipoca (PE Ibitipoca) (Cruz et al 2009), and Parque Nacional da Serra do Caparaó (PARNA Caparaó) (V.K. Verdade et al unpublished data), in the MMR.…”

“…The vocalization patterns of anuran species at FLOE uaimií were defined as: (1) continuous: for species that vocalize, or for more than nine months of the study; (2) rainy season: for species with calling activity associated with the rainy months; (3) dry season: vocalization associated with the dry months; (4) opportunistic: for species that vocalized only after rains; and (5) not defined: species for which it was not possible to define a pattern (adapted from Bertoluci 1998, Bertoluci and Rodrigues 2002, Canelas and Bertoluci 2007, São Pedro and Feio 2010.…”

“…Among the studies conducted in Minas Gerais state involving reproductive activity and/or frogs communities, Nascimento et al (1994), Eterovick and Sazima (2000), Pedralli et al (2001), Eterovick (2003), Eterovick and Sazima (2004), Nascimento et al (2005), Canelas and Bertoluci (2007), São Feio (2010, 2011) in the EMR; Cruz et al (2009), Lacerda et al (2009), and Moura et al (2012 in the MMR can be highlighted. EMR and MMR have been showing a high endemism rate which needs the development of long-term studies for understanding their biogeographical patterns (Cruz and Feio 2007).…”