Abstract
Spatial variation in the environment may be an important source of morphological variation in many organisms. Tadpoles are valuable model organisms for studies of morphological variation, and in particular, the evaluation of the relationship between environmental and morphological variables. In heterogeneous environments, such as the temporary ponds found in the Cerrado savanna of central Brazil, understanding how environmental variables influence the morphological variation found in tadpole populations can provide important insights into this phenomenon. The present study thus aimed to (i) describe the morphometric variation in tadpoles found in different populations of Dendropsophus nanus and Dendropsophus minutus in the Cerrado of southern Maranhão state (Brazil), and (ii) relate this variation in tadpole morphology to the characteristics of the local ponds. Tadpoles were collected from 11 pounds in southern Maranhão, and the morphological space among the different populations was compared using NPMANOVA, separately for each species. The degree of association between the environmental and morphological matrices was then tested using a Stepwise Multiple Linear Regression. The morphological (tadpole morphometry) and environmental (pond characteristics) data matrices were obtained by ordination techniques. Considerable morphometric differences were found among populations in both species. In D. nanus, the morphometric variation was correlated with that of the substrate, whereas in D. minutus, morphometry was associated with the vegetation found in the pond. Overall, then, the study demonstrated that distinct environmental variables influenced significantly the morphometry of the tadpoles of each frog species.
Highlights
Dendropsophus nanus (Boulenger 1889) and Dendropsophus minutus (Peters 1872) are anurans of the family Hylidae
Research on the tadpoles of the genus Dendropsophus has shown systematic morphological variation among larval stages (Ballen 2018, Abreu et al 2013), less evidence has been found of geographic variation in the morphology in the tadpoles of this genus (Marques & Nomura 2018)
The morphological variation among the populations of D. minutus was analyzed through the visualization of the Canonical Variable Analysis (CVA) plot (Fig. 3)
Summary
Dendropsophus nanus (Boulenger 1889) and Dendropsophus minutus (Peters 1872) are anurans of the family Hylidae. Both species are widely distributed in South America (Frost 2016) and are each considered to encompass a complex of species due to the considerable morphological and genetic variation found among populations (Medeiros et al 2006, Gehara et al 2014). A number of Dendropsophus species have been described recently (Dias et al 2017, Motta et al 2012, Rivera-Correa & Orrico 2013, An Acad Bras Cienc (2020) 92(Suppl. Orrico et al 2014) and the number of recognized species in the genus has yet to stabilize (Motta et al 2012). Research on the tadpoles of the genus Dendropsophus has shown systematic morphological variation among larval stages (Ballen 2018, Abreu et al 2013), less evidence has been found of geographic variation in the morphology in the tadpoles of this genus (Marques & Nomura 2018)
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