Island population dynamics of Boana Albomarginata

• Grant number: 22/09659-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: August 01, 2023
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Luciana Bolsoni Lourenço
• Grantee: Raoni Rebouças Santos
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/04281-9 - Dynamics in island populations of Boana albomarginata, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

Biodiversity on islands has attracted the attention of many scientists throughout history, from Darwin's studies to MacArthur and Wilson's model of island biogeography and modern models of isolation effects. The island rule, which places size modification as a result of this isolation on islands, has attracted many researchers to not only try to understand its causes but also predict its consequences. Amphibians, in this aspect, are still poorly studied, and vary widely in the results observed. One of these species, Boana albomarginata, shows gigantism on islands, however the historical population dynamics that may have caused this effect has not yet been studied. Thus, this work aims to evaluate historical demographic aspects that may explain the gigantism in island populations of this species. Samples are from five locations on the mainland and four on islands off the coast of the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The Sanger and 3RAD methods will be used to assess the index of genetic diversity and structure and historical population changes, and thus these will be related to the size of individuals in the populations and to intrinsic factors of the islands, such as community composition, surface and degree of isolation. It is expected that the parameters are related to the degree of isolation of the populations, thus explaining the previous observations of differentiated effects by island.