Identifying and characterizing microclimates for thermal dynamics and microbial communities available for thermoregulation in frogs of the Atlantic Forest

• Grant number: 16/15297-7
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Start date: October 15, 2016
• End date: November 19, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Compared Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Arturo Navas Iannini
• Grantee: Carlos Arturo Navas Iannini
• Visiting researcher: Catherine Robb Bevier
• Visiting researcher institution: Colby College, United States
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 14/16320-7 - Impacts of climate/environmental change on the fauna: an integrative approach, AP.PFPMCG.TEM

Abstract

As ectotherms, anuran amphibians face constant challenges to meet requirements of thermoregulation in the kinds of heterogeneous environments they occupy. This is true especially when a frog becomes sick and the response of behavioral fever triggers more directed habitat choice. These frogs encounter microhabitats and arrays of complex environmental microbiomes that can facilitate behavioral fever, but how these are distributed and accessible across a landscape are not yet known. In this project, we will explore the relationship between available thermal landscapes and the environmental microbiota of forested habitats in an effort to ultimately better understand the implications for behavioral responses to infection in anuran amphibians of Parque Estadual Intervales. We will sample operative temperatures using frog replicas manipulated to simulate different behavioral strategies. These will be placed strategically in diverse microhabitats that vary in thermal regime and potentially support complex microbial communities. Three specific goals are to 1) determine the potential for microhabitats to provide areas for thermoregulation and production of behavioral fever, 2) determine the implications of sick (e.g. static/passive) behavior on body temperature, and 3) characterize the microbial community of those microhabitats defined for (1). It may be that frogs that are infected, or that may be avoiding infection, use habitats with microclimates that provide a higher temperature and more beneficial microbes than habitats with lower overall temperatures and fewer microbes as long as these are available. (AU)