A persistent organic pollutant related with unusual high frequency of hermaphroditism in the neotropical anuran Physalaemus cuvieri Fitzinger, 1826

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Flexible feeding kinematics of a tropical carnivorous anuran tadpole

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Breeding sites of the leaf frog phyllomedusa tetraploidea (hylidae, phyllomedusinae) in a forest remnant in southern Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Isolation and characterization of microsatellites markers for two South American frogs (Leptodactylus bufonius and L. chaquensis) using next generation sequencing

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Checklist of Helminth parasites of Amphibians from South America

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

High Levels of Diversity Uncovered in a Widespread Nominal Taxon: Continental Phylogeography of the Neotropical Tree Frog Dendropsophus minutus

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Levantamento da anurofauna da Escola do Meio Ambiente, Botucatu-SP

O objetivo do presente estudo foi realizar o inventário da anurofauna, assim como investigar a distribuição espacial, temporal e a abundância relativa das espécies localizadas em um mosaico vegetacional na região de Botucatu, SP (22 º55’ 23’’S e 45 º27’ 28’’W). A área estudada situa-se na Escola do Meio Ambiente, possui aproximadamente 12 hectares e uma grande heterogeneidade de habitats. Os dados foram obtidos entre outubro de 2006 a outubro de 2007 e entre setembro de 2009 e setembro de 2010, totalizando 29 dias de campo. Os métodos utilizados foram busca ativa e armadilhas de interceptação e queda. Foram identificadas 26 espécies de anfíbios de cinco famílias: Bufonidae (2 sp), Hylidae (15), Leptodactylidae (6), Leiuperidae (2) e Microhylidae (1), distribuídas em três grandes áreas: área aberta, mata e borda de mata. Os ambientes de área aberta foram utilizados pela maioria dos anfíbios (n=21), enquanto a borda de mata apresentou a menor riqueza (n=5). Treze espécies foram observadas na mata. As espécies Physalaemus cuvieri, e Leptodacylus furnarius foram as mais generalistas, sendo encontradas em seis e cinco dos sete ambientes estudados, respectivamente. Entre as espécies estudadas, Leptodactylus bokermanni, foi a única registrada em apenas um dos ambientes (borda da mata). As espécies mais abundantes na comunidade foram Dendropsophus nanus representando 13%, seguida de Dendropsophus sanborni e Scinax fuscomarginatus ambas com 12 % dos indivíduos. As menos abundantes foram: Rhinella icterica, Leptodactylus mystacinus e Eupemphix nattereri onde cada uma contribuiu com 0,2% dos indivíduos registrados. A grande maioria das espécies foi registrada no período quente e chuvoso (setembro a março), com exceção da espécie Scinax hiemalis que esteve presente na época fria e seca. Já Hypsiboas ...(Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo)

Descrição da morfologia do aparato hiobranquial e da musculatura condrocraniana larval em espécies de Hylodidae

Estudos sobre a morfologia de larvas e adultos de anuros são importantes para apoiar hipóteses ecológicas, filogenéticas e taxonômicas das espécies. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo descrever o aparato hiobranquial larval e a musculatura condrocraniana para a família Hylodidae, utilizando-se de sete espécies: Megaelosia goeldii, Megaelosia massarti, Crossodactylus dispar, Hylodes magalhaesi, Hylodes meridionalis, Hylodes perplicatus e Hylodes heyeri. Os girinos, já fixados, pertencem à Coleção CFBH (Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, UNESP, Rio Claro) e estão entre os estágios de desenvolvimento 25 e 32 de acordo com a tabela de Gosner (1960). Os espécimes foram diafanizados seguindo a técnica de Taylor e Van Dyke (1985) para, posteriormente, serem fotografados e analisados sob estereomicroscópios. Para a estrutura do aparato hiobranquial, os resultados revelaram uma maior semelhança entre os gêneros Hylodes e Megaelosia e uma maior diferença entre esses dois gêneros com Crossodactylus. Para a origem e a inserção da musculatura condrocraniana, não houve diferenças significativas entre os gêneros, ocorrendo um padrão dentro das espécies analisadas. A morfologia do aparato hiobranquial larval e de sua musculatura associada para a família Hylodidae tem muitas semelhanças com a família Bufonidae, um táxon considerado aparentado

Anurans from the Serra da Bocaina National Park and surrounding buffer area, southeastern Brazil

Here, we review the species of anuran amphibian from the Serra da Bocaina National Park and its buffer area, in the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil, comparing the data from a recent survey with museum records. We surveyed adult and larval anurans in ponds, marshes, and streams discontinuously from May 2008 to January 2011. In total, 63 anuran species were previously known to occur at the Park and its surrounding buffer area. In our survey, we recorded 46 species, of which five represented new records, and 22 appeared only in the historical list. Seven topotypic populations were not found in the present study. We suggest that conservation strategies for anurans in the Serra da Bocaina should also consider the surrounding areas that are subjected to anthropogenic pressure, due to the high diversity recorded, high altitudinal variation in species distribution, and various vegetation formations.

Amphibians of grasslands in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil (Campos Sulinos)

Amphibian conservation depends on knowledge about species composition and distribution. This emphasizes the need for inventories, especially in poorly sampled areas. This is the case of Southern grasslands (Campos Sulinos) associated with Araucaria forest in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil. We sampled amphibians in 105 environments from 2004 to 2013 using transect sampling, active search and surveys at breeding sites. We found 61 anuran species and two caecilians. This is the first comprehensive list of amphibian species inhabiting grasslands in Paraná. This landscape deserves high conservation priority before these natural grasslands vanish.

Investimento materno em anfíbios anuros: a questão da variação no tamanho do ovo

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Water balance and spatial distribution of an anuran community from Brazil

Terrestrial amphibians may dehydrate when exposed to low humidity, representing an important factor affecting spatial distribution and community composition. In this study we investigated whether rates of dehydration and rehydration are able to explain the spatial distribution of an anuran community in a Restinga environment at the northern coast of the State of Bahia, Brazil, represented by 11 species distributed in 27 sample units. The environmental data set containing 20 variables was reduced to a few synthetic axes by principal component analysis (PCA). Physiological variables measured were rates of dehydration, rehydration from water, and rehydration from a neutral substrate. Multiple regression analyses were used to test the null hypothesis of no association between the environmental data set (synthetic axes of PCA) and each axis representative of a physiological variable, which was rejected (P < 0.001). Of 15 possible partial regressions only rehydration rate from neutral substrate vs. PC1. and PC2, rehydration rate from water vs. PC1, and dehydration rate vs. PC2 were significant. Our analysis was influenced by a gradient between two different groups of sample units: a beach area with high density of bromeliads and an environment without bodies of water with low density of bromeliads. Species of very specific natural history and morphological characters occur in these environments: Phyllodytes melanomystax and Scinax auratus, species frequently occurring in terrestrial bromeliads, and Ischnocnema paulodutrai, common along the northern coast of Bahia and usually found in forest remnants within environments with low number of bodies of water. In dry environments species with lower rates of dehydration were dominant, whereas species showing greater rates of dehydration were found predominantly in microhabitats with greater moisture or abundance of bodies of water.

Multiple Quaternary Refugia in the Eastern Guiana Shield Revealed by Comparative Phylogeography of 12 Frog Species

The Guiana Shield (GS) is one of the most pristine regions of Amazonia and biologically one of the richest areas on Earth. How and when this massive diversity arose remains the subject of considerable debate. The prevailing hypothesis of Quaternary glacial refugia suggests that a part of the eastern GS, among other areas in Amazonia, served as stable forested refugia during periods of aridity. However, the recently proposed disturbance-vicariance hypothesis proposes that fluctuations in temperature on orbital timescales, with some associated aridity, have driven Neotropical diversification. The expectations of the temporal and spatial organization of biodiversity differ between these two hypotheses. Here, we compare the genetic structure of 12 leaf-litter inhabiting frog species from the GS lowlands using a combination of mitochondrial and nuclear sequences in an integrative analytical approach that includes phylogenetic reconstructions, molecular dating, and Geographic Information System methods. This comparative and integrated approach overcomes the well-known limitations of phylogeographic inference based on single species and single loci. All of the focal species exhibit distinct phylogeographic patterns highlighting taxon-specific historical distributions, ecological tolerances to climatic disturbance, and dispersal abilities. Nevertheless, all but one species exhibit a history of fragmentation/isolation within the eastern GS during the Quaternary with spatial and temporal concordance among species. The signature of isolation in northern French Guiana (FG) during the early Pleistocene is particularly clear. Approximate Bayesian Computation supports the synchrony of the divergence between northern FG and other GS lineages. Substructure observed throughout the GS suggests further Quaternary fragmentation and a role for rivers. Our findings support fragmentation of moist tropical forest in the eastern GS during this period when the refuge hypothesis would have the region serving as a contiguous wet-forest refuge.

Antimicrobial capacity of plasma from anurans of the Atlantic Forest

The viability and interpretation of techniques for the evaluation of immunocompetence of animals in their natural environment has been largely debated. One of these methods is based on testing the antimicrobial capacity of the blood and/or plasma in vitro, which could rapidly and effectively assess the immunological conditions of natural populations. We tested the applicability of the antimicrobial capacity of plasma (ACP) assay in anuran amphibians from the Atlantic Forest. The assay was performed by measuring both the turbidity (in a spectrophotometer) and the colony forming units (CFU) of the remaining bacteria (Escherichia coli) following exposure to amphibian plasma. Although both assays were correlated, the ACP assay by spectrophotometry showed 10 times lower intra-assay variation. We also found interspecific variation in ACP, as well as the maintenance of ACP values in males from the same population, collected in different breeding seasons. Thus, the estimation of ACP by spectrophotometry provides a convenient and accurate method for evaluating innate immunocompetence in comparative and ecophysiological studies of anuran amphibians.

Amphibian biodiversity in Taita Hills, Kenya

Species richness varies greatly across geographical regions. Eastern Arc Mountains (EAM) of Kenya and Tanzania is one of the global biodiversity hotspots. Despite this, high species diversity the explanatory factors have remained largely unexplored. Herein, this study first investigated amphibian species richness patterns in the EAM and particularly the reasons for the low richness in Taita Hills. It tested the hypothesis that the low richness is due to past forest loss or other factors. The results demonstrated that the regional species richness pattern was influenced largely by mean annual rainfall and not forest area. Secondly, using the 26 currently recorded amphibians in the Taita Hills, it investigated the relationship between amphibian species composition along anthropogenic habitat disturbance and elevation gradients. It tested the hypothesis that sites with similar environmental characteristics (temperature, rainfall and elevation), in close proximity and with similar disturbance levels (habitat types) harbour similar species composition. It was found that amphibian species composition differed in terms of elevation and was explained by both temperature and rainfall. Therefore sites with similar environmental characteristics, disturbance levels and in close proximity geographically have similar amphibian composition. Thirdly, diagnostic characters, distribution, basic life history characteristics and conservation status of all currently known amphibians in the Taita Hills were provided. Finally, first long term life history and ecological characteristics of a brevicipitid frog (Callulina sp) was provided. The results showed that this frog abundance and distribution is influenced mainly by mean monthly temperature, breeds during the long dry season and exhibit parental care. Results of this study strongly recommend increasing indigenous forest cover in order to enhance the conservation of the endemic indigenous forest associated amphibians such as Callulina sp, Boulengerula taitana and Boulengerula niedeni.