Seasonal variation in the leaf-litter frog community (Amphibia: Anura) from an Atlantic Forest Area in the Salto Morato Natural Reserve, southern Brazil

Abstract

In this study we provide the first data regarding community parameters of leaf-litter anurans inhabiting a forest floor in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil, including information on community species richness, composition, specific density and biomass. Our study was conducted at Salto Morato Natural Reserve using forty plots of 4 x 4 m for each one of the four seasons (winter, spring, summer and autumn), totaling 2.560 m² of forest floor sampled. We sampled a total of 96 frogs inhabiting the forest floor, belonging to seven species: Brachycephalus hermogenesi (Giaretta & Sawaya, 1998), Ischnocnema guentheri (Steindachner, 1864), Haddadus binotatus (Spix, 1824), Leptodactylus gr. marmoratus, Physalaemus spiniger (Miranda-Ribeiro, 1926), Proceratophrys boiei (Wied-Neuwied, 1824), and Rhinella abei (Baldissera, Caramaschi & Haddad, 2004). The overall frog density in the forest floor was 3.73 ind/100m², with I. guentheri (1.37 ind/100 m²) being the most common species and R. abei (0.19 ind/100 m²), the rarest. The estimated overall frog mass in the community was 3.29 g. The abundance, richness and density varied consistently among the four seasons sampled, with the highest values occurring in the spring and summer seasons

Anuran species of the Salto Morato Nature Reserve in Paraná, southern Brazil: review of the species list

“…The results of our study added 12 frog species to the existing inventory (Garey and Hartmann 2012), indicating the occurrence of a total of 54 anuran species at Salto Morato (Table 1) belonging to 23 genera distributed in 10 families (Brachycephalidae, Bufonidae, Centrolenidae, Craugastoridae, Cycloramphidae, Hemiphract idae, Hylidae, Hylodidae, Leptodactylidae and Odon to phrynidae). We did not record any additional species from museum collections that had not been recorded in previous studies (Santos-Pereira et al 2011;Garey and Hartmann 2012). The frog species richness estimated for the area by Bootstrap, considering only the data from the present study (active search method), was 45 species, and the rarefaction curve tended towards the asymptote (Figure 2).…”

“…Most of the species were arboreal, and reproduce by mode 1 (eggs and tadpoles deposited in standing water). A considerable proportion of the frog species belong to the Terrarana group (sensu Hedges et al 2008), represented in this study by the Brachycephalidae and Craugastoridae, which have direct development of terrestrial eggs (reproductive mode 23), and tend to dominate the leaf-litter communities in tropical forests (e.g., Scott 1976;Lieberman 1986;Fauth et al 1989;Giaretta et al 1997;1999;Rocha et al 2001;2011;Siqueira et al 2009;Santos-Pereira et al 2011). As they do not depend on bodies of water for reproduction (e.g.…”

“…Amphibian assemblages have been studied widely in Brazil (Conte and Rossa-Feres 2007;Garey and Hartmann 2012;Zina et al 2012;Oliveira et al 2013), where they provide important data for the understanding of the ecological relationships among species in time (Santos-Pereira et al 2011) and space (Juncá 2006;Ferreira et al 2012). Species lists (Wachlevski and Rocha 2010;Telles et al 2012;Affonso et al 2014;AlmeidaGomes et al 2014;Crivellari et al 2014) typically constitute an essential first step for the monitoring of the fauna of specific habitats and the assessment of the status of species and their populations, which can be used to guide conservation decision-making (Pimenta et al 2005), especially considering that most strategies are based on local species richness (Rocha et al 2003) and on the extinction risk of different species (Miller et al 2006).…”

Anuros da Reserva Natural Salto Morato, Guaraqueçaba, Paraná, Brasil

“…Na Reserva Natural Salto Morato são reconhecidas atualmente 43 espécies de anuros, sendo 42 registradas no presente estudo e uma espécie (Brachycephalus hermogenesi) registrada anteriormente por Santos-Pereira (2011). Porém, de acordo com a análise de ICE, observamos que o esforço de coleta do presente estudo não foi suficiente para registrar todas as espécies da RNSM.…”

Living in a same microhabitat should means eating the same food? Diet and trophic niche of sympatric leaf-litter frogs Ischnocnema henselii and Adenomera marmorata in a forest of Southern Brazil

“…The two species sharing nocturnal activity (whilst A. marmorata is also active in daylight period), being I. henselii slightly larger than A. marmorata in body size (Haddad et al, 2013). In Paraná State, Southern Brazil, these two leaf litter frogs are usually the most abundant species and occur syntopically on the forest floor of the Atlantic Rainforest of Reserva Natural Salto Morato (Santos-Pereira et al, 2011).…”