Paleoclimatic influences in the distribution of ISCHNOCNEMA HOLTI (Anura, Brachycephalidae)

• Grant number: 14/23958-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: March 01, 2015
• End date: June 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Célio Fernando Baptista Haddad
• Grantee: Laryssa Sakayanagi Teixeira
• Supervisor: Ana Carolina Oliveira de Queiroz Carnaval
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: City University of New York, New York (CUNY), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/22702-7 - Phylogeography of Ischnocnema holti (Anura, Brachycephalidae), a specie of the Atlantic forest of southeastern Brazil, BP.MS

Abstract

The Atlantic forest has high amphibian diversity and endemism. To understand the processes that shaped local patterns of diversity, many recent studies have combined the tools of correlative distribution modelling under paleoclimatic scenarios with analyses of molecular data. We propose to use this integrative approach to study the historical demography of Ischnocnema holti, a species complex found in high altitude areas of the Atlantic forest. Our preliminary analyses suggest the existence of multiple lineages within I. holti and confirms its paraphyly with respect to I. lactea. Here we investigate whether former biological responses to warmer (interglacial) periods can explain the patterns and degree of divergence observed within the I. holti complex. (AU)