Integrating biological information in models predicting climate change impacts on amphibians

• Grant number: 19/04637-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Effective date (Start): July 01, 2019
• Effective date (End): June 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Physiology of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Arturo Navas Iannini
• Grantee: Rafael Parelli Bovo
• Supervisor: Barry Raymond Sinervo
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Research place: University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/10338-0 - Integrating physiological, ecological and evolutionary processes for comprehension of populational and species' responses to environmental changes, BP.PD

Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms underlying species responses to environmental changes and their association with sensitivity or resilience to extinction remains challenging. A leading framework relies on approaches known as "mechanistic models" that link physiological mechanisms to ecological patterns in various contexts. However, an effervescent debate is on how to integrate physiological traits (and which ones) into these models, as well as which characteristics are considered fundamental (e.g. species phenology, reproductive modes, habitat use), to comprehend species' resilience in or extirpation of the habitat under climate change scenarios. In this project, I aim to evaluate biological information of amphibians, with emphasis on physiological traits, inserted into mechanistic models that estimate spatiotemporal vulnerability of populations and species to extinction risk. Amphibians are suffering from numerous population declines and extinctions, yet the group also exhibits some aggressive invasive species. Thus, it is fundamental to understand why lineages differ in sensitivity to climate change, and what mechanisms (e.g., physiological ones) underlie resilience, when present. Anticipated results of this abroad internship are i) novel and robust assessments - rooted in biological information - of species vulnerability and population extinction risk of amphibians from Brazil, and ii) acquirement of new competences allowing me to be part of a new generation of postdoctoral research fellows trained in the latest integrative methods in climate change studies. Long-lasting results of i) and ii) may, respectively, guide conservation strategies and yield me skills to develop, in the near future, groundbreaking studies of species responses to environmental changes, under mechanistic modeling, integrating other environmental layers of complexity beyond climate. (AU)