Habitat use by a tree frog species of Scinax (Amphibia, Hylidae) at an urban forest fragment from south-eastern Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT. We studied the pattern of habitat use by the tree frog Scinax aff. perereca. Fieldworks were performed from August 1996 to August 1997 at Parque das Mangabeiras, Belo Horizonte, State of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. Calling males were observed in September, October and December 1996, February to April and June 1997. Females were found only in October 1996. Specimens were found perched on vegetation, on the ground or on stones near waterfall. At Parque das Mangabeiras, S. aff. perereca occupied nine types of substrata. The most frequently used substrata were shrubs, stones at the stream edges, and fallen trunks. The pattern of spatial occupation varied among months. Males were found calling in aggregations on the vegetation and spatial niche breadth was related to species abundance. KEYWORDS.Hylidae, Scinax, habitat use, Atlantic forest, environment.RESUMO. Uso do hábitat por uma espécie de Scinax (Amphibia, Hylidae) em um fragmento florestal urbano no sudeste do Brasil. No presente estudo é tratado o uso do hábitat por Scinax aff. perereca, durante o período de agosto de 1996 a agosto de 1997 em uma área de mata urbana em Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, sudeste do Brasil. Machos em atividade de vocalização foram encontrados em setembro, outubro e dezembro de 1996 e de fevereiro a abril e junho de 1997. As fêmeas foram capturadas apenas em outubro de 1996. Os indivíduos foram encontrados em galhos da vegetação no solo ou em pedras próximas a quedas de água. Na área estudada, S. aff. perereca usa nove tipos de substratos, sendo os mais freqüentes a vegetação herbácea, pedras na margem do riacho e troncos caídos. O padrão de ocupação espacial variou ao longo dos meses. Os machos foram encontrados vocalizando em agregados e a largura de nicho espacial foi diretamente relacionada a abundância da espécie. PALAVRAS-CHAVE.Hylidae, Scinax, uso do habitat, Mata Atlântica.Habitat is one of the three main categories of resource dimension of animals (PIANKA, 1973) and can be divided in two subcategories: macro and microhabitat. Generally, it is the first resource dimension partitioned among amphibians (TOFT, 1985). For example, CRUMP (1974) assumed that spatial partitioning enabled the coexistence of 74 anuran species at Santa Cecilia, Ecuador. KRZYSIK (1977) and KRZYSIK & MILLER (1979) showed that substratum particle size is an important microhabitat parameter to determine the coexistence patterns within desmognathine salamanders. Hence, information about habitat use of a given species could be helpful in understanding other aspects of its biology, as well as the structure of the community it belongs to.Knowledge of habitat use by tropical anuran species is restricted to descriptive information in studies of communities (e.g. CARDOSO et al., 1989;HEYER et al., 1990;HADDAD & SAZIMA, 1992;NASCIMENTO et al., 1994;POMBAL, 1997). Studies on spatial organization of anuran populations are nearly unknown for Brazilian species. Nonetheless, ETEROVICK (1999) performed a quantitative analysis on the use of bromeliads as...

Activity budget and perch characteristics of Pseudophilautus popularis (Manamendra-Arachchi & Pethiyagoda, 2005) (Amphibia: Rhacophoridae) During the breeding season

“…Although our data is insufficient to confirm that selection of different microhabitat across the canopy could be influenced by resource choices of frogs (Ra et al, 2008), there could be several factors operating. These may include abundance of conspecifics (Galdino et al, 2008) and activities of the neighbor (Given, 1993). Brief notes on combat behavior were documented for the first time in Sri Lanka by Arak (1983).…”

Treefrog Diversity in the Neotropics: Phylogenetic Relationships of Scinaxini (Anura: Hylidae: Hylinae)

“…The identity of specimens reported as Scinax aff. perereca in Minas Gerais by Galdino et al (2008) from Belo Horizonte and by Lacerda et al (2009) from Araponga and Fervedouro requires corroboration, but they also likely correspond to S. hayii.…”