Local and Landscape Factors Driving the Structure of Tropical Anuran Communities: Do Ephemeral Ponds have a Nested Pattern?

Almeida‐Gomes, Mauricio; Rocha, Carlos Frederico Duarte; Vieira, Marcus Vinícius

doi:10.1111/btp.12285

Cited by 17 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…We considered forest‐dependent species as those that are mainly found in forest areas even if some of them are occasionally found in matrix areas (Almeida‐Gomes & Rocha, ; Almeida‐Gomes, Vieira et al., ; Haddad et al., ). Generalist species were those found in both forest and matrix areas, most of them being common in disturbed habitats (Almeida‐Gomes, Rocha & Vieira, ). This classification relies on previous samplings in pasture matrix in the same study area (Almeida‐Gomes & Rocha, ; Almeida‐Gomes, Rocha et al., ) and available information for Atlantic Forest frogs (Haddad et al., ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Generalist species were those found in both forest and matrix areas, most of them being common in disturbed habitats (Almeida‐Gomes, Rocha & Vieira, ). This classification relies on previous samplings in pasture matrix in the same study area (Almeida‐Gomes & Rocha, ; Almeida‐Gomes, Rocha et al., ) and available information for Atlantic Forest frogs (Haddad et al., ). Analyses were performed for forest and generalist species separately as we expect they respond differently to forested habitat amount.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Habitat amount drives the functional diversity and nestedness of anuran communities in an Atlantic Forest fragmented landscape

et al. 2019

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Natural environments disturbed by human activities can suffer from species extinctions, but some can still harbor high taxonomic diversity. However, disturbances may have impacts beyond the species level, if the species lost represent unique functions in the ecosystem. In this study, we evaluated to what extent the amount of habitat can determine the functional diversity and nestedness of amphibian communities in an Atlantic Forest fragmented landscape in Brazil, and if there is a threshold of habitat amount beyond which there is severe loss of functional diversity. As species responses may depend on their habitat type, we performed the analyses for three different sets of species: all species, forest‐dependent species, and generalist species. We also evaluated the relative importance of turnover and nestedness components to total functional dissimilarity among sites. Habitat amount affected functional diversity of frogs, especially for forest‐dependent species where a linear reduction was detected. The functional dissimilarity among sites was mostly explained by the nestedness component. The reduction of functional diversity was mediated by an ordered loss of traits, leading to a functionally nested metacommunity. These sensitive traits were closely related to habits and reproductive modes that depend on rivers and streams. The maintenance of functional diversity of frogs in fragmented landscapes must rely on the conservation of both terrestrial and aquatic environments, as some species and their traits can disappear from remnants of native vegetation lacking some specific habitats (e.g. streams). Abstract in Portuguese is available with online material.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat amount drives the functional diversity and nestedness of anuran communities in an Atlantic Forest fragmented landscape

et al. 2019

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“…Nature conservation programmes typically aim at safeguarding high levels of regional diversity, which can only be achieved by having both high local diversity and high β-diversity (Socolar, Gilroy, Kunin, & Edwards, 2016). Nestedness refers to the situation where species-poor sites are subsets of species richer sites (Almeida-Gomes, Rocha, & Vieira, 2016;Almeida-Neto, Guimarães, Guimarães, Loyola, & Ulrich, 2008;Ulrich, 2009), whereas spatial turnover indicates species replacement among habitat patches (Baselga, 2010;Koleff & Gaston, 2002;Qian, Ricklefs, & White, 2005). Nestedness refers to the situation where species-poor sites are subsets of species richer sites (Almeida-Gomes, Rocha, & Vieira, 2016;Almeida-Neto, Guimarães, Guimarães, Loyola, & Ulrich, 2008;Ulrich, 2009), whereas spatial turnover indicates species replacement among habitat patches (Baselga, 2010;Koleff & Gaston, 2002;Qian, Ricklefs, & White, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beta-diversity can further be partitioned into its components of nestedness and spatial turnover (Baselga, 2010). Nestedness refers to the situation where species-poor sites are subsets of species richer sites (Almeida-Gomes, Rocha, & Vieira, 2016;Almeida-Neto, Guimarães, Guimarães, Loyola, & Ulrich, 2008;Ulrich, 2009), whereas spatial turnover indicates species replacement among habitat patches (Baselga, 2010;Koleff & Gaston, 2002;Qian, Ricklefs, & White, 2005). Partitioning β-diversity into its nestedness and spatial turnover components is effective to reveal causative processes that determine patterns of β-diversity (Baselga, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lateral hydrological connectivity differentially affects the community characteristics of multiple groups of aquatic invertebrates in tropical wetland pans in South Africa

et al. 2019

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River–floodplain connectivity (i.e. lateral hydrological connectivity, LHC) can directly affect the community characteristics by promoting dispersal of organisms but can also have profound indirect effects by altering local habitat characteristics. A major challenge is to disentangle the relative importance of direct and indirect effects of LHC on organisms. Combining taxonomic data with trait information allows a more mechanistic understanding of how LHC affect biotic communities in floodplains. Here, we attempted to determine the relative importance of the direct and indirect effects of LHC on local environmental variables and community characteristics (taxonomic and trait composition) of three different taxonomic organism groups in a set of 33 temporary floodplain pans along a gradient of LHC. In addition, we specifically aimed to unravel the underlying mechanisms shaping patterns of taxonomic diversity by partitioning compositional dissimilarity between ponds into components of nestedness and spatial turnover. Variation partitioning revealed that most differences in macroinvertebrate and zooplankton community composition between pans resulted from variation in local environmental variables, particularly macrophyte cover and the presence of fish. For large branchiopod crustaceans, however, partitioning indicated that LHC did significantly affect both taxonomic and trait community composition, and reduced local taxon diversity. Partitioning taxonomic and trait β‐diversity showed that community dissimilarity between pans was largely determined by turnover, rather than by nestedness. Overall, our study revealed that the effects of LHC on aquatic invertebrate communities act mainly indirectly by altering local environmental conditions. Although the effects of LHC were significant, they were small compared to those of environmental variables. Our results from the partitioning of taxonomic and trait β‐diversity have important implications for biodiversity conservation efforts in the Ndumo region. We demonstrate the need to conserve multiple pans along the LHC gradient to sustain high regional diversity. A common practice in the study area mainly focuses on the conservation of river‐connected or larger pans.

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“…Most studies considering the effect of rainfall on seasonal growth and survival have focused on seasonal or annual weather patterns [10][11][12]; but whereas such large-scale rainfall trends can be useful in explaining community level dynamics [13], they may not reveal the specific mechanisms driving individual mortality. In order to elucidate the effect of short term environmental fluctuations on growth and development, rainfall patterns should be considered on a much shorter timescale [2,14].…”

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Natural Egg Mortality of the African Grey Tree Frog, Chiromantis xerampelina (Amphibia: Rhacophoridae)

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2017

Journal of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry

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Rainfall patterns are recognised as important for normal ecosystem functioning in arid environments. Most attempts made to understand the effect of rainfall on amphibian ecology have focused on long-term rather than short-term trends. Here, factors effecting embryonic mortality and clutch size of the African foam nesting frog Chiromantis xerampelina were examined at two ponds from April -June in 2011-2012 in Malawi. A total of 73 foam nests were monitored following spawning. On average 29% of eggs in 2011 and 26% in 2012 suffered mortality from both ponds and this mortality significantly varied between nests. Linear regression showed that the date of spawning had a significant effect on mortality due to moisture requirements of the eggs. The height of nests over the water surface had a negative impact on clutch size and increased rainfall decreased egg mortality in both years at both ponds. In a changing climate, with rainfall projected to become more infrequent in this region, organisms may not be able to rely on rainfall patterns as cues for reproduction, which may have a negative impact on amphibian populations. Keywords: Chiromantis; Foam nests; Embryonic mortality; Climate patternsKnowledge on egg and larval survival is essential to understand the population dynamics of amphibians; however, due to the difficulties associated with assessing the survival rate of amphibian embryos and larvae under natural conditions, detailed knowledge of natural survivorship is limited to a few species and populations [1]. Rainfall, oxygen, ultraviolet radiation and temperature can also interact with biotic factors and influence mortality and hatching rate [2][3][4]. Embryos from amphibian egg clutches are surrounded by a protective perivitelline membrane containing perivitelline fluid and a jelly envelope composed of a variable number of layers [5]. Ambient moisture can influence the physical properties and structure of the embryos and the surrounding protective layers and can potentially alter the ability of embryos to hatch. This is particularly important for the many tropical species known to lay their eggs out of the water, thereby exposing their eggs to variable environmental conditions. Annual and seasonal levels of rainfall are projected to change throughout the twenty-first century [6,7] and as a result, mortality of terrestrial amphibian eggs is predicted to increase in the tropics [8,9]. Most studies considering the effect of rainfall on seasonal growth and survival have focused on seasonal or annual weather patterns [10][11][12]; but whereas such large-scale rainfall trends can be useful in explaining community level dynamics [13], they may not reveal the specific mechanisms driving individual mortality. In order to elucidate the effect of short term environmental fluctuations on growth and development, rainfall patterns should be considered on a much shorter timescale [2,14].The African grey tree frog, Chiromantis xerampelina, is a large species of the family Rhacophoridae. Males usually reach 43-75mm and...

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Local and Landscape Factors Driving the Structure of Tropical Anuran Communities: Do Ephemeral Ponds have a Nested Pattern?

Cited by 17 publications

References 67 publications

Habitat amount drives the functional diversity and nestedness of anuran communities in an Atlantic Forest fragmented landscape

Habitat amount drives the functional diversity and nestedness of anuran communities in an Atlantic Forest fragmented landscape

Lateral hydrological connectivity differentially affects the community characteristics of multiple groups of aquatic invertebrates in tropical wetland pans in South Africa

Natural Egg Mortality of the African Grey Tree Frog, Chiromantis xerampelina (Amphibia: Rhacophoridae)

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