Abstract
Abstract: Many tropical anurans use forest streams to deposit their eggs, but resource use and selection by tadpoles in tropical forests are poorly known. In the present research, we hypothesized that leaf litter and water depth affect tadpole assemblages due to adult habitat selection for oviposition and/or microhabitat selection by tadpoles. Fieldwork was carried out in the Estação Biológica de Boracéia, an Atlantic Rainforest reserve in São Paulo state, southeastern Brazil. We sampled tadpoles during a year using 40 double-entry funnel-traps distributed along four streams in the forest. Only leaf litter effects are species dependent. We discussed that habitat structure significance depends on the morphological and ecological adaptation to forage and avoid competition within the tadpole community.
Highlights
Anuran amphibians exhibit a combination of particular reproductive strategies that includes selective breeding sites, clutch characteristics, rate and duration of larval development, and eventually parental care (Haddad & Prado 2005), linked to their spatial distribution and reproductive success (Haddad & Sawaya 2000, Wells 2007)
Four anuran tadpole species known to inhabit streams were captured in our study in Estação Biológica de Boracéia (EBB): Aplastodiscus leucopygius (N = 146), Bokermannohyla hylax (139), Scinax obtriangulatus (89) (Hylidae), and Phasmahyla cochranae (2) (Phyllomedusidae) (Figure 3)
The tadpole assemblages studied in EBB showed partitioning organization with habitat structure discerning among tadpole species
Summary
Anuran amphibians exhibit a combination of particular reproductive strategies that includes selective breeding sites, clutch characteristics, rate and duration of larval development, and eventually parental care (Haddad & Prado 2005), linked to their spatial distribution and reproductive success (Haddad & Sawaya 2000, Wells 2007). Tadpoles are generally found in water bodies suitable for their development and success that are selected by their parents (Wells 2007). In these water bodies it is expected that local factors related to habitat structure and resource quality explain tadpole richness, diversity and development (Savage 1952, Stoler & Relyea 2013b, Almeida et al 2015). Most tadpoles are filter-feeders, which can impose high levels of competition to species sharing the same pond (Fatorelli & Rocha 2009), unless there is a partitioning of resources in terms of space, time, or food (Heyer 1976). Tadpoles can differ in the foraging mode using the water surface, mid-water, or water bottom (Heyer 1973, 1976)
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