Food habits and ontogenetic diet shifts of the litter dwelling frog proceratophrys boiei (wied)

Here is described the diet of Proceratophrys boiei (Wied, 1825), a leaf litter frog of the Atlantic Forest, and test for relationships between frog size and prey size and type. The diet was determined by stomach content analysis. In 38 frogs, was found 76 prey items belonging to 23 taxa. Insects predominate in the diet and the most frequent categories were coleopterans (39.4% of total volume) and orthopterans (25.0%). There was a positive correlation between frog size and volume of prey taken. The most important ontogenetic shift in prey type was an increase in the consume of coleopterans and insect larvae with increasing frog size

Bird communities in three forest types in the Pernambuco Centre of Endemism, Alagoas, Brazil

The Pernambuco Center of Endemism (PCE) in northeastern Brazil is highly fragmented and degraded. Despite its potential conservation importance the bird fauna in this area is still relatively unknown and there are many remnant fragments that have not been systematically surveyed. Here, we report the results of bird surveys in five forest fragments (one pioneer, two ombrophilous and two seasonal). In total, 162 taxa were recorded, 12 of which are endemic to the PCE. The frequency of endangered species was lower than what has been reported in studies from the same area and most of the taxa considered to be at risk of extinction were sub-species of uncertain taxonomic validity. The comparatively low number of endemic/threatened species may be due to the small size of the fragments in the present study - a consequence of the high levels of habitat loss in this region. Analysis of species richness patterns indicates that ombrophilous forest fragments are acting as refuges for those bird species that are most sensitive to environmental degradation