Diversity, distribution and effect of climate change on Atlantic Forest amphibian communities

Author(s)

Maurício Humberto Vancine

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Rio Claro. 2018-08-30.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Instituto de Biociências. Rio Claro
• Defense date: 2018-06-29
• Advisor: Célio Fernando Baptista Haddad; Milton Cezar Ribeiro

Abstract

Uncertainties about species diversity and distribution are one of the major challenges for conservation biology. Among the world's biodiversity hotspots, the Atlantic Forest is considered one of the most threatened biomes, mainly due to the loss and fragmentation of habitats, climate changes and invasive species. Among these threats, projections of climate change scenarios have proven to be the main agent of biodiversity reduction, particularly among amphibians. This group is considered one of the most sensitive taxa to these alterations, due to their particular characteristics of morphology, physiology and ecology. Thus, we aim to achieve two objectives in this work: 1) to present a comprehensive compilation and evaluation of the composition and distribution of the amphibian communities already inventoried to the Atlantic Forest Biome, and 2) to use part of the data from the communities, to infer how climate change may affect the distribution of anurans of the genus Brachycephalus, a group considered highly sensitive to climate change. We performed descriptive and spatial analyzes of amphibian community samples for the Atlantic Forest and used Ecological Niche Models to infer the distribution of the genus in face of the impacts of climate change. In the first objective, we did not have a pre-defined hypothesis, since it was a compilation of data. For the second objective, our hypothesis was that in the future there will be an increase in Brachycephalus suitability values in regions of higher altitudes, where there will probably be little forest available for the maintenance of the populations of the species of this genus. The results of the compilation of the amphibian samples generated an overview of the diversity, composition, methods and sample effort of the communities of this taxon for the Atlantic Forest. Regarding the effects of climate change, our results indicated drastic changes in the suitability of the Brachycephalus genus in different areas of the biome. When we relate the values of suitability (current and future) with the altitude values, we observed that the higher altitude regions will have an increase in suitability values when compared to the current areas. However, these higher regions (generally above 1,500 m) will not have forest habitat, placing several species at serious risk of population size reduction and/or even local extinctions, especially species with restricted distribution. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 17/09676-8 - Effect of landscape modifications and climate changes on the persistence of amphibians in the Atlantic Forest
• Grantee: Maurício Humberto Vancine
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master