Climatic variables and altitude as predictors of anuran species richness and number of reproductive modes in Brazil

Author(s)

Vasconcelos, Tiago da Silveira ; dos Santos, Tiago Gomes ; Baptista Haddad, Celio Fernando ; Rossa-Ferest, Denise de Cerqueira

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF TROPICAL ECOLOGY; v. 26, p. 10-pg., 2010-07-01.

Abstract

Because anuran species are highly dependent on environmental variables, we hypothesized that anuran species richness and the number of reproductive modes from different Brazilian localities vary according to climatic and altitudinal variables. Published data were compiled from 36 Brazilian localities and climatic and altitudinal data were extracted from an available database. A partial redundancy analysis (pRDA) showed that 23.5% of the data set's variation was explained by climatic and altitudinal data, while the remaining 76.5% remained unexplained. This analysis suggests that other factors not analysed herein may also be important for predicting anuran species richness and the number of reproductive modes in Brazil. Altitude and total annual rainfall were positively correlated with anuran species richness and the number of reproductive modes, and total annual rainfall was strongly associated with these two biotic variables in the triplot of pRDA. The positive association of total annual rainfall and the negative association of the concentration of annual rainfall were already expected based on physiological and reproductive requirements of anurans. On the other hand, temperature was not associated with richness or the number of reproductive modes. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 08/50928-1 - Speciation of frogs in high-altitude environments
• Grantee: Célio Fernando Baptista Haddad
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 09/17195-3 - Climatic variables and altitude as predictors for number of reproductive modes and anuran species richness in the Atlantic Forest and cerrado Brazilian biomes
• Grantee: Tiago da Silveira Vasconcelos
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• FAPESP's process: 01/13341-3 - Diversity of Anuran Amphibians from São Paulo State
• Grantee: Célio Fernando Baptista Haddad
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 02/13602-4 - Evolution of the southeastern Brazilian reptile fauna from Cretaceous: paleontology, phylogeny and biogeography
• Grantee: Hussam El Dine Zaher
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants