Influence of habitat heterogeneity on anuran diversity in Restinga landscapes of the Parnaíba River delta, northeastern Brazil

Abstract

Anurans have close associations with environmental conditions and therefore represent an interesting vertebrate group for examining how resource availability and environmental variables influence species diversity. Associations between habitat heterogeneity and anuran species diversity were tested in the Restinga landscapes of the Parnaíba River delta in northeastern Brazil. Twenty-one anuran species were sampled in the rainy season during monthly excursions (December 2015 to June 2016) into areas of Restinga on two islands in the Parnaíba River delta. The fourth highest anuran diversity was found in this type of environment in Brazil and is the third in northeastern Brazil. Microenvironments, characterized by a combination of vernal pools with different vegetational and physical structures, better explained anuran species composition in the Parnaíba River delta.

Seasonal and habitat structure of an anuran assemblage in a semideciduous forest area in Southeast Brazil

“…Area C can be considered the most heterogeneous, as it is located in a transition from pasture and secondary forest. The positive association between richness of anurans and habitat heterogeneity is compatible with various studies that relate richness of different animal groups with area and habitat heterogeneity (Ricklefs & Lovette 1999, Vallan 2000, Báldi 2008, Silva et al 2011, Souza et al 2014, Araújo et al 2018. The most accepted explanation for this association (Tews et al 2004) is the habitat heterogeneity hypothesis (Simpson 1949).…”

Anurans of Sete Cidades National Park, Piauí state, northeastern Brazil

“…About 55 amphibian species are found in the state of Piauí (Roberto et al 2013), of which we recorded approximately 54% in Sete Cidades National Park. This richness was higher than other protected areas of the state, such as Uruçuí-Una Ecological Station (Dal Vechio et al 2013;26 species), Delta do Parnaíba Environmental Protection Area in the coastal zone of states of Piauí and Maranhão (Loebmann & Mai 2008, Andrade et al 2016, Araújo et al 201826 species), Serra das Confusões National Park (Dal Vechio et al 2016;18 species), and Serra da Capivara National Park (Cavalcanti et al 2014;eight species). The largest number of species recorded here is probably caused by the location of Sete Cidades National Park, within an area of ecological tension, under the influence of different phytogeographic elements (Cerrado-Caatinga) (Rocha & Prudente 2010).…”

“…We obtained anuran richness data from the following checklists conducted in 28 protected areas ( Figure 3): Caatinga (12 protected areas) -Catimbau National Park -CatNP, state of Pernambuco (Pedrosa et al 2014), Seridó Ecological Station -SerES, state of Rio Grande do Norte (Caldas et al 2016), Delta do Parnaíba Environmental Protection Area -DPEPA, states of Maranhão and Piauí (Loebmann & Mai 2008, Andrade et al 2016, Araújo et al 2018, Serra das Confusões National Park -SCoNP and Uruçuí-Una Ecological Station -UUES, both in state of Piauí (Dal Vechio et al 2013, Lençóis Maranhenses National Park -LMNP, state of Maranhão (Miranda 2007), Chapada do Araripe Environmental Protection Area -ChpEPA, Ubajara National Park -UbaNP and Aiuaba Ecological Station -AuES, state of Ceará (Ribeiro et al 2012, Costa et al 2018, Castro et al 2019, Chapada Diamantina National Park -CDNP and Raso da Catarina Ecological Station -RcatES, state of Bahia (Garda et al 2013, Magalhães et al 2015 Bertoluci 2007, Bertoluci et al 2009), Serra da Bodoquena National Park -SrBNP, state of Mato Grosso do Sul (Uetanabaro et al 2007), Assis Ecological Station -AsES, Jataí Ecological Station -JatES, Furnas de Bom Jesus State Park -FurSP, and Itirapina Ecological Station -ItiES, state of São Paulo (Brasileiro et al 2005, Araujo et al 2009, Prado et al 2009 We evaluate anuran species distribution and association with Brazilian biomes (IBGE 2019) from literature records (i.e. Roberto et al 2013, Andrade et al 2017, Araújo et al 2018, Frost 2020) and the amphibian conservation status is according to IUCN (2020). All diversity metrics and similarity analysis were performed using the packages adespatial (Dray et al 2019), BiodiversityR (Kindt and Coe 2005), and Vegan (Oksanen et al 2016) for R 5.6.1 (R Core Team 2019).…”

“…Andrade et al 2011, Benício et al 2011, Leite Jr. et al 2008, Macedo et al 2011, Vasconcelos et al 2014, ecological relations and checklists (i.e. Loebmann & Mai 2008, Dal Vechio et al 2013, Benício et al 2014, Araújo et al 2018. Despite the availability of a compilation of amphibian species published for Piauí state (Roberto et al 2013), there is still a lack of studies in some regions.…”

Endoparásitos De Philodryas Olfersii (Lichtenstein, 1823) en Ambientes De Restinga Del Delta Del Río Parnaiba, Nordeste De Brasil

“…The Environmental Protection Area Delta do Parnaíba, northeastern Brazil harbors rich herpetofauna (Loebmann & Mai, 2008;Andrade et al, 2016, Araújo et al, 2018, however, there is a lack of information about the reptile parasite load in restinga environments, mainly in northeastern region. Our results contribute to increase the knowledge of endoparasites infecting P. olfersii, and this is the first research about parasitism in reptiles from the Parnaíba River Delta; thus, we encourage further parasitological studies in order to improve the understanding of the parasite-host relationships in Brazilian snakes, mainly in coastal environments.…”