Abstract
The northwestern region of Sao Paulo was extensively deforested during the agricultural expansion in the last century and only small fragments of the original vegetation cover remained. In this study, we investigated how habitat features influence the composition, richness, and diversity of anurans in environments homogenized by agricultural activities. We sampled monthly six breeding ponds located in pasture areas during twelve months. We recorded ten environmental descriptors for each breeding pond. We found 18 anuran species. The breeding ponds were structurally similar, but species composition differed among them. The environmental descriptors influence varies for each species, as demonstrated by the different associations between species and environmental descriptors shown in the Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). Seven of the ten environmental descriptors explained 67% of the species richness, showing that environmental characteristics influenced the occurrence of the different species. There is no such data set for the region and also for most Brazilian regions, despite its importance in guiding species-oriented conservation actions.
Highlights
The northwestern region of São Paulo was extensively deforested during the agricultural expansion in the last century and only small fragments of the original vegetation cover remained
Several studies have shown that complex environments that provide more microhabitats harbor a higher number of species than homogeneous environments
We evaluated the influence of environmental heterogeneity of breeding ponds on anuran richness and composition in a landscape homogenized by agricultural activities and which environmental descriptors favor the occurrence of individual anuran species
Summary
The northwestern region of São Paulo was extensively deforested during the agricultural expansion in the last century and only small fragments of the original vegetation cover remained. Seven of the ten environmental descriptors explained 67% of the species richness, showing that environmental characteristics influenced the occurrence of the different species. There is no such data set for the region and for most Brazilian regions, despite its importance in guiding species-oriented conservation actions. A fundamental area of community ecology is the characterization and explanation of how a set of species manages to coexist in certain environmental situations (LEWINSOHN 1990). This in turn may shed light on which forces are involved in the assembly of biological communities Several studies have shown that complex environments that provide more microhabitats harbor a higher number of species than homogeneous environments
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