Dissimilarity among Species and Higher Taxa of Amphibians in a Hotspot of Biodiversity and Endemism in the Neotropics

Abstract

The Mexican Republic ranks fifth in the world in terms of amphibian diversity, and within Mexico, the state of Oaxaca has the greatest amphibian richness and endemism. Unfortunately, various factors, such as land use change and global warming, have caused a global crisis that threatens the conservation of this class. In the face of these threats, an analysis of beta diversity provides information that can be applied to conservation strategies, since its study reveals the spatial scaling of diversity loss and clarifies the mechanisms of regional diversity maintenance. In this work, we analyzed the beta diversity at the species and higher taxa level (order, family, subfamily, genus and species) for the amphibians of Oaxaca and their replacement components and the differences in richness for anurans and caudates separately between physiographic subprovinces. Very high beta diversity was recorded, with higher diversity occurring among caudates (0.92) than among anurans (0.84). Species replacement was the component that most contributed to this result, and the subprovinces with substantial environmental differences had the most dissimilar amphibian communities. The results of this study show the need to implement conservation strategies in subprovinces with high amphibian richness and endemism levels, following the example of Sierra Madre de Oaxaca (SMO), where local communities have developed conservation actions in most of the territory.