Fauna associada a bromélias terrícolas da Serra da Jibóia - BA

We have compared fauna richness and abundance associated with terrestrial bromeliads of an Atlantic Forest and adjacent “campo rupestre” habitats at Serra da Jibóia, Bahia, Brazil. The mean numbers of species and animals related to Atlantic Forest and “campo rupestre” were very similar. Only in Atlantic Forest, the number of species and animals were significatively correlated with bromeliad size. The number of immature individual or larval phases was significantly higher in the Atlantic Forest than in “campo rupestre”. Araneae was the most diversified group in the Atlantic Forest and Coleoptera in the “campo rupestre”. However, most of Araneae species had very low abundance and the most abundant species in Atlantic forest was one of Coleoptera group. One species of Diptera (larva) and other of Coleoptera were the two most abundant species in campo rupestre.Comparamos a composição faunísitca associada a bromélias terrícolas de uma área florestada de mata atlântica e de um campo rupestre adjacente, na região da Serra da Jibóia, Bahia. Os números médios de morfoespécies e animais por bromélia foram aproximadamente o mesmo nos dois ambientes. Na mata, o tamanho da bromélia influenciou positivamente no número de morfoespécies e número de animais presentes por bromélia. O número de indivíduos jovens ou em fase larval foi significativamente maior na área de mata. Araneae foi o grupo mais diversificado na mata, enquanto no campo rupestre foi Coleoptera. Entretanto, a maioria das morfoespécies de Araneae apresentou baixa abundância, enquanto uma morfoespécie de Coleoptera foi a mais abundante na mata, seguida de uma morfoespécie de Formicidae. No campo rupestre, as mais abundantes foram uma morfoespécie de Diptera (larva) e outra de Coleoptera

Advertisement call of species of the genus Frostius Cannatella 1986 (Anura: Bufonidae)

Frostius pernambucensis and F. erythrophthalmus are cryptic bufonid species recognized mainly by the iris color: yellow in F. permambucensis and red in F. erythrophthalmus. However, field studies showed that the iris color of F. erythrophthalmus could vary between yellow and red. To improve the recognition of these species we described the advertisement call of Frostius pernambucensis and Frostius erythrophthalmus and we tested if call characteristics are influenced by temperature, male size and perch height. We also report on a physical interaction between two males of F. pernambucensis and the associated vocalization, suggesting that F. pernambucensis has not a territorial call or encounter call. Comparing the advertisement calls, the call of F. pernambucensis was lower, shorter and with a smaller number of notes than the call of F. erythrophthalmus. Dominant frequency and fundamental frequency variation of the F. pernambucensis advertisement call were related to the male’s size, while the call emission rate was related to air temperature. However, we could not find relationship among the acoustic characteristic of F. erythrophthalmus and male size or temperature

Taking tadpole biology into the 21st century: a consensus paper from the First Tadpoles International Workshop

Although tadpoles are common, frequently encountered vertebrates, their natural history is poorly known. Despite the fact that Brazil harbors the highest anuran diversity in the world, with almost a thousand known species (Segalla et  al., 2014), the larvae of many species remain undescribed. The problem is not unique to Brazil. At the turn of the century, approximately ⅔ of almost 3,300 anuran species with a larval stage lacked tadpole descriptions (McDiarmid & Altig, 1999). The proportion of neotropical anurans with free-swimming larvae that are not described is estimated to be around 40% (Provete et al., 2012).Fil: Rossa Feres, Denise de C.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Venesky, Matthew. Allegheny College; Estados UnidosFil: Nomura, Fausto. Universidade Federal de Goias; BrasilFil: Eterovick, Paula C.. Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Vera Candioti, María Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Menin, Marcelo. Universidade Federal do Amazonas; BrasilFil: Juncá, Flora A.. Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana; BrasilFil: Schiesari, Luis C.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Haddad, Celio F. B.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Garey, Michel V.. Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana; BrasilFil: dos Anjos, Luciano A.. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Wasserug, Richard. Dalhousie University Halifax; Canadá. University Of British Columbia; Canad

Effects of temperature and volume of water on the growth and development of tadpoles of Pleurodema diplolister and Rhinella granulosa (Amphibia: Anura)

The capacity of tadpoles to reduce their metamorphosis time and body size in response to fluctuations in environmental variables of temporary ponds has been recorded in field and laboratory studies. The main alterations in this habitat are related to the decrease of the water level and increase in temperature. However, few studies tried to dissociate the effect of these two variables. The aim of the present study was to analyze simultaneously the effects of water volume reduction and temperature on the development and growth in tadpoles of Pleurodema diplolister (Peters, 1870) and Rhinella granulosa (Spix, 1824) - species that use temporary ponds for reproduction. The tadpoles of these two species were subject to four treatments: (1) constant volume of water of 2000 ml and constant temperature of 26ºC; (2) gradually decreasing water volume from 2000 ml to 200 ml or 150 ml and constant temperature of 26 ºC; (3) Constant water volume as in (1) and constant temperature of 30 ºC or 33 ºC and (4) Decreasing water volume (as above) and constant temperature as in the treatment (3). There was no interaction between both tested variables on the growth and development of tadpoles of both species. Tadpoles of P. diplolister and R. granulosa responded to high temperature by decreasing development time. Tadpoles responded to decreasing volume of water by metamorphosing into smaller size. Tadpoles of P. diplolister maintained at 30ºC showed growth reduction. Tadpoles of R. granulosa increased their body size when subject to the treatment at 30ºC

Variability in anuran advertisement call: a multi-level study with 15 species of monkey tree frogs (Anura, Phyllomedusidae)

Understanding the variability of acoustic signals is a first important step for the comprehension of the evolutionary processes that led to current diversity. Herein, we evaluate the variability of the advertisement call of the phyllomedusid species from the genera Phyllomedusa Wagler, 1830 and Pithecopus Cope, 1866 at different levels: intra-individual, intra-population, inter-population, intra-species, and inter-specific. An analysis of coefficients of variation showed a continuum of variability between the acoustic parameters analyzed, from static to highly dynamic. The majority of the variation was attributed to the inter-specific level, while call parameters at the intra-individual level varied the least. However, each parameter behaved differently with call interval being the most variable across all levels. Most temporal acoustic parameters were affected by environmental temperature, while pulse rate and dominant frequency were strongly influenced by body size. Only pulse rate was correlated to the geographic distance between populations, while all parameters presented a significant phylogenetic signal. Based on these results, we discuss the possible importance of different evolutionary forces and the usage of vocalizations for taxonomic purposes.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Variability in anuran advertisement call: A multi-level study with 15 species of monkey tree frogs (Anura: Phyllomedusidae)

Understanding the variability of acoustic signals is a first important step for the comprehension of the evolutionary processes that led to current diversity. Herein, we evaluate the variability of the advertisement call of the phyllomedusid species from the genera Phyllomedusa and Pithecopus at different levels: intra-individual, intra-population, inter-population, intra-species, and inter-specific. An analysis of coefficients of variation showed a continuum of variability between the acoustic parameters analyzed, from static to highly dynamic. Most of the variation was attributed to the inter-specific level while call parameters at the intra-individual level varied the least. However, each parameter behaved differently with call interval being the most variable across all levels. Most temporal acoustic parameters were affected by environmental temperature while pulse rate and dominant frequency were strongly influenced by body size. Only pulse rate was correlated to the geographic distance between populations, while all parameters presented a significant phylogenetic signal. Based on these results, we discuss the possible importance of different evolutionary forces and the usage of vocalizations for taxonomic purposes

Data and Code

Data and Code to reproduce all analysis and figures in the manuscript