Abstract
Amphibian distribution patterns are known to be influenced by habitat diversity at breeding sites. Thus, breeding sites variability and how such variability influences anuran diversity is important. Here, we examine which characteristics at breeding sites are most influential on anuran diversity in grasslands associated with Araucaria forest, southern Brazil, especially in places at risk due to anthropic activities. We evaluate the associations between habitat heterogeneity and anuran species diversity in nine body of water from September 2008 to March 2010, in 12 field campaigns in which 16 species of anurans were found. Of the seven habitat descriptors we examined, water depth, pond surface area and distance to the nearest forest fragment explained 81% of total species diversity. Water depth, margin vegetation type, surface area and distance to the next body of water explained between 31-74% of the variance in abundance of nine of the 16 species. Thus, maintenance of body of water, of the vegetation along the water edge and natural forest fragments in the grasslands, along with fire control (used to renovation of pasture), are fundamentally important for the maintenance of anuran species diversity through the conservation of their breeding sites.
Highlights
Understanding processes, both biotic and abiotic, that generate patterns of species' distributions and the diversity that is a consequence of those processes is fundamental for community ecology
Subtropical grasslands are common in southern Brazil, where are located in the Pampa biome and in the Atlantic Forest biome forming mosaics with Araucaria forest, within which the Palmas Grasslands is found (Overbeck 2007, Pillar and Vélez 2010, Maack 2012)
Anuran diversity and the presence of some species in natural fields were affected by both local characteristics of the body of water and larger scale features
Summary
Understanding processes, both biotic and abiotic, that generate patterns of species' distributions and the diversity that is a consequence of those processes is fundamental for community ecology (Huston 1994, Hutchinson 1959). Environmental heterogeneity at many scales is important (Hamer and Parris 2011, Richter-Boix et al 2007, Shulse et al 2010, Silva et al 2011a, 2012, Werner et al 2009). Complex environments tend to have more microhabitats that allow differential resource use thereby favoring species coexistence (Campos and Vaz-Silva 2010, Cardoso et al 1989, Conte and Rossa-Feres 2007, Rossa-Feres and Jim 2001, Vasconcelos et al 2009).
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