Impact of invasive exotic anurans at Fernando de Noronha on invertebrates and ecological and functional comparisons with native populations

• Grant number: 24/11231-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: May 01, 2025
• End date: April 30, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology
• Principal Investigator: Luis Felipe de Toledo Ramos Pereira
• Grantee: Camila Fernanda Moser
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The establishment and spread of invasive exotic species can have a strong impact on native biodiversity. The effect of the introduction of exotic species is particularly more harmful in island environments, which are home to more vulnerable ecosystems that can undergo structural changes due to interactions such as predation by exotic species, competition with native species, in addition to possible spread of diseases. In the Fernando de Noronha archipelago (FN), for example, there are several introduced species, such as the anurans Rhinella diptycha and Scinax x-signatus. The introduction of these two species could have a significant impact on the dynamics of the FN terrestrial ecosystem, since there are no native amphibians on the island. Thus, these species tend to feed on native and even endemic prey to the island, such as the endemic species of the mabuya skink Trachylepis atlantica and and the snail Hyperaulax ridleyi, which were preyed upon by R. diptycha. Therefore, in this project I intend to i) test how predation by FN's exotic anurans impacts the diversity of the island's native and endemic invertebrate fauna, in addition to ii) generating comparative information on the trophic ecology of exotic and native populations, iii) test whether island isolation had an influence on the body size of anurans and iv) test how morphological anomalies in adult individuals of R. diptycha in FN impact the body size of the individuals, as well as their diet and locomotion. To do this, I will collect data of prey availability in island and continental environments, the food content consumed by individuals, morphological measurements of anurans and the daily distance traveled by individuals of R. diptycha in FN.