Influence of local and landscape components in the structuration of a metacomunidade of amphibians in a fragmented landscape in the Neotropics

• Grant number: 09/12972-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2010
• End date: February 29, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Theoretical Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Denise de Cerqueira Rossa-Feres
• Grantee: Heloisa Jesus de Almeida
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The loss of forest areas is a major threat to biodiversity and one of the most affected taxa are the amphibians. The anuranfauna of northeastern São Paulo State is constituted mostly by species associated with open habitats. Nonetheless, their conservation also depends on the preservation of the heterogeneity of the regional landscape and the maintenance of minimum areas of life for these species, because of the displacements perform to achieve the ponds where they breed and importqance of the remaining forest to survive during the pronounced dry season that characterizes this region. We propose to determine which environmental descriptors of landscape fragments better explain the pattern of spatial distribution of species in a fragmented landscape in northwestern São Paulo State. We intend to answer the following questions: (i) are the composition and abundance of species different in fragments of different size and structure? (ii) are the diversity of species of frogs in spawning aggregation different between ponds nearby (0-100 m) and far (101-500 m) from fragments? (iii) are environmental descriptors related to the spatial distribution of species and guilds (arboreal and terrestrial) of frogs? Were sampled 18 fragments with pitfall traps, and 56 water bodies in the vicinity of these fragments, using the method searching for breeding habitat. Environmental descriptors were determined from nine water bodies, and image analysis, will be determined six descriptors of the landscape. The relationship between the descriptors and the richness and abundance of species will be verified by analysis of ordination (CCA), tests of multiple regression and correlation matrices (Mantel test).

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

ALMEIDA, Heloisa Jesus de. Influência de componentes locais e da paisagem na estrutura de uma metacomunidade de anfíbios anuros em uma paisagem fragmentada na Região Neotropical. 2012. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Instituto de Biociências Letras e Ciências Exatas. São José do Rio Preto São José do Rio Preto.