TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of environmental factors on the ecology and survival of a widespread, endemic Cerrado frog
AU - Fiorillo, Bruno F.
AU - Faggioni, Gabriel Paganini
AU - Cerezer, Felipe Osmari
AU - Becker, C. Guilherme
AU - Díaz-Ricaurte, Juan C.
AU - Martins, Marcio
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Cynthia P. A. Prado for valuable suggestions on earlier versions of the manuscript. Fieldwork was conducted with the help of Ana L. M. R. Santos, Ana Paula Carmignoto, Gabriel Sampaio, Gabriel Sonoda, Carlos Abrahão, Claudio Marino, Gabriella Leal, Giovana Felício, Jairo Roldan, Jorge Henry Maciel, John U. Rosas, Paula Rocha, Rafael C. Menegucci, Rafaela Pereira, Ricardo Santa Maria, Solimary García-Hernandez, Vinícius Gabriel, and Paula Rocha. Permits were provided by ICMBio (SISBIO# 50658-1) and CEUA-IB/USP (241/2016).
Funding Information:
This study was partly financed by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) through research grants (#2015/21259–8, #2018/14091–1, and #2020/12658–4), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) through research fellowships (#306961/2015–6 and #309772/2021–4), and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001 through a fellowship.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation.
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - Understanding the mechanisms that affect habitat use by vertebrates is critical for understanding how species are distributed across landscapes and how they cope with habitat change. The Brazilian Savanna (the Cerrado) has vegetation ranging from grassland to woodland savannas and harbors a rich and diverse amphibian fauna impacted by accelerated habitat loss. Here, we test the influence of vegetation type (from grassy scrubland to woodland) and distance from breeding sites (ephemeral water bodies) on body size, abundance, and survival of the frog Physalaemus nattereri in a natural metapopulation system of south-central Brazil. We also test whether body size is a significant predictor of population abundance. We found that the abundance of P. nattereri varies according to the mean snout–vent length of each metapopulation (sampling unit), as well as a higher estimated mortality rate in woodlands compared with typical Cerrado. Furthermore, we found no difference in estimated mortality among sampling units located far or close to ephemeral water bodies. Thus, our results highlight variable responses of P. nattereri metapopulations to environmental factors, despite the observed high heterogeneity among sampled habitats and the importance of ephemeral water bodies for reproduction. These findings highlight that land cover and availability of breeding sites might not always interact to explain population persistence of Cerrado frogs.
AB - Understanding the mechanisms that affect habitat use by vertebrates is critical for understanding how species are distributed across landscapes and how they cope with habitat change. The Brazilian Savanna (the Cerrado) has vegetation ranging from grassland to woodland savannas and harbors a rich and diverse amphibian fauna impacted by accelerated habitat loss. Here, we test the influence of vegetation type (from grassy scrubland to woodland) and distance from breeding sites (ephemeral water bodies) on body size, abundance, and survival of the frog Physalaemus nattereri in a natural metapopulation system of south-central Brazil. We also test whether body size is a significant predictor of population abundance. We found that the abundance of P. nattereri varies according to the mean snout–vent length of each metapopulation (sampling unit), as well as a higher estimated mortality rate in woodlands compared with typical Cerrado. Furthermore, we found no difference in estimated mortality among sampling units located far or close to ephemeral water bodies. Thus, our results highlight variable responses of P. nattereri metapopulations to environmental factors, despite the observed high heterogeneity among sampled habitats and the importance of ephemeral water bodies for reproduction. These findings highlight that land cover and availability of breeding sites might not always interact to explain population persistence of Cerrado frogs.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85148427954&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85148427954&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/btp.13209
DO - 10.1111/btp.13209
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85148427954
SN - 0006-3606
VL - 55
SP - 551
EP - 562
JO - Biotropica
JF - Biotropica
IS - 2
ER -