Species turnover drives the spatial distribution of frog beta diversity in farmland ponds

Author(s)

Tavares, Henrique Nascimento ^[1] ; da Silva, Fernando Rodrigues ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, LET IT BE, Dept Ciencias Ambientais, Campus Sorocaba, Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF TROPICAL ECOLOGY; v. 35, n. 4, p. 199-202, JUL 2019.
• Web of Science Citations: 1

Abstract

Studies integrating variation in species composition among sites are useful in understanding the impacts of land-use changes on the spatial distribution of biodiversity. However, the failure to recognize the distinction between beta diversity components, dissimilarity due to species replacement (i.e. turnover) and dissimilarity due to species loss from site to site (i.e. nestedness), can lead to inappropriate use of some indices. Here, we evaluated how the spatial distribution of anuran beta diversity components, turnover and nestedness, is associated with local and landscape descriptors in a tropical agricultural landscape with a recent history of agriculture expansion in south-eastern Brazil. Overall, 27 anuran species were found in the region with average +/- SD species richness in each pool of 9.5 +/- 3.5 species, ranging from 4 to 15 species. We observed that species turnover was the major component for anuran dissimilarity among pools, indicating that anuran species occurring in species-poor pools are not subsets of anuran species occurring in species-rich pools. Local variables and geographic distance were not important descriptors explaining the variation of anuran beta diversity. In contrast, the distance of the pools to the nearest forest fragment explained 16% of the variance in total beta diversity, 5% of the nestedness component and 2% of spatial turnover. Our results show that pools distributed across farmland landscapes are harbouring different anuran species composition, and together, these pools are contributing to the regional diversity of anurans in this region which is considered one of the most deforested and fragmented within Brazil. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/50714-0 - Influence of ecological and evolutionary processes in structuring amphibian communities at different spatial and temporal scales
• Grantee: Fernando Rodrigues da Silva
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Young Investigators Grants
• FAPESP's process: 04/12223-5 - The importance of forest fragments in the richness and diversity of amphibian anurans in Icem, northwest region of the State of São Paulo
• Grantee: Fernando Rodrigues da Silva
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master