Environmental DNA applied to monitoring and conservation studies of anurans in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

• Grant number: 16/14054-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: December 01, 2016
• End date: February 02, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology
• Principal Investigator: Célio Fernando Baptista Haddad
• Grantee: Carla Martins Lopes
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/50741-7 - Diversity and conservation of Brazilian amphibians, AP.BTA.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 19/04849-7 - Environmental DNA metabarcoding for detecting declining and disappeared amphibians species in southern Brazilian Atlantic forest, BE.EP.PD 17/20204-0 - Developing and testing environmental DNA metabarcoding protocols for surveying leaf litter amphibians in Brazilian Atlantic Forest, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Brazil has the highest amphibian diversity in the world, with over 1000 described species. About half of this species are distributed in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest. However, this biome has less than 16% of its original cover. Amphibians are highly sensitive to environmental degradation, facing serious problems of population declines, local extinctions or even species extinctions. In Brazil, 40 amphibian species are listed in some level of threat. However, many species are still poorly studied or completely unknown and their conservation status require more investigations. The analysis of DNA traces in environmental samples allows assessing the entire diversity of species in a single experiment. It is a non-invasive and powerful approach, providing effective results in a short period of time, and helps overcome many of the challenges of traditional survey methods for species detection. In the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest, some anuran species associated to the leaf litter or bromeliads are no longer registered, and most of them are not listed in some level of threaten in the IUCN red list, mainly due to the lack of information about their biological activities or geographical distributions. This project aims to contribute to the development of environmental DNA sample analyses in order to search for disappeared amphibian species associated to the leaf litter or bromeliads in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest, improving the knowledge of their geographical distributions and conservation status. (AU)

Scientific publications

(7)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

LOPES, CARLA MARTINS; BAETA, DELIO; VALENTINI, ALICE; LYRA, MARIANA LUCIO; SABBAG, ARIADNE FARES; GASPARINI, JOAO LUIZ; DEJEAN, TONY; BASPTISTA HADDAD, CELIO FERNANDO; ZAMUDIO, KELLY RAQUEL. Lost and found: Frogs in a biodiversity hotspot rediscovered with environmental DNA. Molecular Ecology, v. 30, n. 13, SI, p. 3289-3298, JUL 2021. (13/50741-7, 12/25370-2, 16/14054-3)

LOPES, CARLA M.; SASSO, THAIS; VALENTINI, ALICE; DEJEAN, TONY; MARTINS, MARCIO; ZAMUDIO, KELLY R.; HADDAD, CELIO F. B.. eDNA metabarcoding: a promising method for anuran surveys in highly diverse tropical forests. MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES, v. 17, n. 5, p. 904-914, SEP 2017. (16/14054-3, 13/50741-7)

LOPES, CARLA MARTINS; SANTOS, MARCUS THADEU T.; BAETA, DELIO; SABBAG, ARIADNE FARES; HADDAD, CELIO FERNANDO BAPTISTA. Environmental DNA as a non-invasive alternative for surveying aquatic communities in tank bromeliads. MARINE AND FRESHWATER RESEARCH, MAY 2021. (16/14054-3, 13/50741-7)

CÉLIO F.B. HADDAD; CARLA M. LOPES; C. GUILHERME BECKER; FERNANDO R. DA SILVA; MARIANA L. LYRA. De genes a ecossistemas: uma síntese da pesquisa em biodiversidade de anfíbios no Brasil. Biota Neotropica, v. 22, 2022-09-05. (13/50741-7, 16/14054-3, 13/50714-0)

LOPES, CARLA MARTINS; SANTOS, MARCUS THADEU T.; BAETA, DELIO; SABBAG, ARIADNE FARES; HADDAD, CELIO FERNANDO BAPTISTA. Environmental DNA as a non-invasive alternative for surveying aquatic communities in tank bromeliads. MARINE AND FRESHWATER RESEARCH, v. N/A, p. 8-pg., 2021-05-28. (13/50741-7, 16/14054-3)

SASSO, THAIS; LOPES, CARLA M.; VALENTINI, ALICE; DEJEAN, TONY; ZARNUDIO, KELLY R.; HADDAD, CELIO F. B.; MARTINS, MARCIO. Environmental DNA characterization of amphibian communities in the Brazilian Atlantic forest: Potential application for conservation of a rich and threatened fauna. Biological Conservation, v. 215, p. 225-232, NOV 2017. (16/14054-3, 13/50741-7, 14/06795-8)

LOPES, CARLA MARTINS; DE BARBA, MARTA; BOYER, FREDERIC; MERCIER, CELINE; GALIANO, DANIEL; KUBIAK, BRUNO BUSNELLO; MAESTRI, RENAN; SILVA DA SILVA FILHO, PEDRO JOEL; GIELLY, LUDOVIC; COISSAC, ERIC; et al. Ecological specialization and niche overlap of subterranean rodents inferred from DNA metabarcoding diet analysis. Molecular Ecology, v. 29, n. 16, p. 3144-3154, AUG 2020. (16/14054-3)