Predation on Scinax littoralis (Anura: Hylidae) by another treefrog, Hypsiboas albomarginatus (Anura: Hylidae)

Herein we report predation by the hylid anuran Hypsiboas albomarginatus on another hylid anuran Scinax littoralis, observed in a remnant of Atlantic Forest in the municipality of Santos, southeastern Brazil.

Population structure and canopy use by Coussapoa microcarpa, a strangler hemiepiphyte from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

We studied density, size structure, and establishment sites of Coussapoa microcarpa in the Brazilian Atlantic rain forest. This species is a hemiepiphyte that begins its life in the tops of trees and survives the death of its host to become a free-standing tree. All individuals of C. microcarpa already rooted in the ground were recorded in a 3.43 ha (1.75 ha in lowland and 1.68 ha in submontane) sample of forest plots. Data on total height, root diameter at breast height, host height and diameter at breast height, as well as height, type and diameter of the establishment site were collected. Coussapoa microcarpa present a high density (36.5 ind. ha-1) and the population studied was composed mainly of young individuals. Young and adults differed in establishment sites. The diameter of establishment sites of young was narrower than the diameter of establishment sites of adults, which points out to a limiting factor (diameter of establishment site) regulating the establishment of C. microcarpa. © 2013 Cambridge University Press.

Description and phylogenetic relationships of a new species of treefrog of the Dendropsophus leucophyllatus group (Anura: Hylidae) from the Amazon basin of Colombia and with an exceptional color pattern

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Canopy Opener e assistência de ar no controle da ferrugem asiática e produtividade da cultura da soja

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Reproductive Dynamics of the Neotropical Treefrog Hypsiboas albopunctatus (Anura, Hylidae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Broad-scale spatial patterns of canopy cover and pond morphology affect the structure of a Neotropical amphibian metacommunity

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

A new probabilistic canopy dynamics model (SLCD) that is suitable for evergreen and deciduous forest ecosystems

There are strong uncertainties regarding LAI dynamics in forest ecosystems in response to climate change. While empirical growth & yield models (G&YMs) provide good estimations of tree growth at the stand level on a yearly to decennial scale, process-based models (PBMs) use LAI dynamics as a key variable for enabling the accurate prediction of tree growth over short time scales. Bridging the gap between PBMs and G&YMs could improve the prediction of forest growth and, therefore, carbon, water and nutrient fluxes by combining modeling approaches at the stand level.Our study aimed to estimate monthly changes of leaf area in response to climate variations from sparse measurements of foliage area and biomass. A leaf population probabilistic model (SLCD) was designed to simulate foliage renewal. The leaf population was distributed in monthly cohorts, and the total population size was limited depending on forest age and productivity. Foliage dynamics were driven by a foliation function and the probabilities ruling leaf aging or fall. Their formulation depends on the forest environment.The model was applied to three tree species growing under contrasting climates and soil types. In tropical Brazilian evergreen broadleaf eucalypt plantations, the phenology was described using 8 parameters. A multi-objective evolutionary algorithm method (MOEA) was used to fit the model parameters on litterfall and LAI data over an entire stand rotation. Field measurements from a second eucalypt stand were used to validate the model. Seasonal LAI changes were accurately rendered for both sites (R-2 = 0.898 adjustment, R-2 = 0.698 validation). Litterfall production was correctly simulated (R-2 = 0.562, R-2 = 0.4018 validation) and may be improved by using additional validation data in future work. In two French temperate deciduous forests (beech and oak), we adapted phenological sub-modules of the CASTANEA model to simulate canopy dynamics, and SLCD was validated using LAI measurements. The phenological patterns were simulated with good accuracy in the two cases studied. However, IA/max was not accurately simulated in the beech forest, and further improvement is required.Our probabilistic approach is expected to contribute to improving predictions of LAI dynamics. The model formalism is general and suitable to broadleaf forests for a large range of ecological conditions. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Phytoseiidae mites associated with Hevea spp. from the Amazon region: a hidden diversity under the canopy of native trees

Despite the Amazon Forest being the largest tropical forest in the world, and cradle of rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis), no studies have aimed to report the occurrence of mites associated with native trees from this ecosystem. Our survey investigates the phytoseiid mites associated with five species of native rubber trees from nine sites of the Amazon Forest, and also presents a major review of phytoseiid species from natural vegetation in Brazil. We found a total of 1305 mites, belonging to 30 species, of which seven were new to science, Amblydromalus akiri sp. nov., Amblyseius chicomendesi sp. nov., Amblyseius duckei sp. nov., Amblyseius manauara sp. nov., Iphiseiodes katukina sp. nov., Iphiseiodes raucuara sp. nov. and Typhlodromips igapo sp. nov.; beyond two new records for Brazil, Iphiseiodes kamahorae and Amblyseius martus. Our results emphasize the importance of Amazon native trees as an unexplored source of predator mites, which in turn may be further studied as biological control agents of pest mites on rubber trees. The impressive diversity, endemism and rate of new species found highlight the importance of studies on arthropod communities associated with the Amazon vegetation.

Allelopathic potential and survey of natural seed bank under the canopy of Copaifera Langsdorffii Desf

The aim of this study was to evaluate the allelopathic effect of soil samples collected under the canopies of three specimens of Copaifera langsdorffii the germination of Lactuca sativa and survey the natural seed bank according to seasonality. To test the allelopathic effect was carried experiments of pre and post-emergence with seeds of L. sativa and to quantify the stock of seeds, soil samples were collected from three specimens at three distances from the stem (1, 2 and 3 m) and at three depths (0-5, 5-10 and 10-15cm) in the region of savanna in the dry and wet seasons. The samples tested in bioassay of pre-emergence no significant influence on germinability, mean germination time and mean germination speed, but showed a difference in the synchronism of germination, these data were independent of sampling station. In test for post-emergence was observed statistical difference in the parameters evaluate (length of primary roots and hypocotyls) in both seasons. To quantify the natural seed bank were macroscopic analysis of each soil sample with the help of stereoscopic microscope. The analysis of the natural seed bank showed a larger number of seeds in the 0-5cm and in distance of 2m for both seasons. The results suggest the presence of allelochemical substances in soil samples collected under the canopy of Copaifera langsdorffii.

Calling activity and vocal repertoire of hypsiboas prasinus (Anura, Hylidae), a treefrog from the Atlantic Forest of Brazil

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

Anuran skin and basking behavior: the case of the treefrog Bokermannohyla alvarengai (Bokermann, 1956)

We investigated the morphology of the skin and the biochemistry of the lipids in the skin secretion of Bokermannohyla alvarengai, a montane treefrog that is known to bask regularly, motionless in full sunlight for extended periods of time. Our primary goal was to identify structural and biochemical modifications that might assist this frog species to accommodate the conflicting demands for heat exchange and water balance while basking. The modulation of heat exchange in basking B. alvarengai involves changes in skin coloration. We found that this response was supported by a prominent monolayer of large iridophores, whose light reflectance property is adjusted by the response of intervening melanophores. Mucosubstances and lipid compounds, mainly consisted of saturated fatty acids and presumably secreted from granular glands, were detected on the skin of B. alvarengai. These compounds formed an extra-epidermal layer over the animal's dorsal surface that might assist in the prevention of excessive water loss through evaporation. Additionally, we found well-developed skin folds at the ventral region of the frogs that lead to an increment of surface area. This feature combined with the extensive hypervascularization, also noticed for the skin of B. alvarengai, may play an important role in water reabsorption. The suite of structural and biochemical modifications identified for the integument of B. alvarengai seems to conjugate aspects relevant to both, heat exchange and water balance, allowing for this species to explore basking as an efficient thermoregulatory strategy. J. Morphol. 276:1172-1182, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Disproportionate single-species contribution to canopy-soil nutrient flux in an Amazonian rainforest

Rainfall, throughfall and stemflow were monitored on an event basis in an undisturbed open tropical rainforest with a large number of palm trees located in the southwestern Amazon basin of Brazil. Stemflow samples were collected from 24 trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) > 5 cm, as well as eight young and four full-grown babassu palms (Attalea speciosa Mart.) for 5 weeks during the peak of the wet season. We calculated rainfall, throughfall and stemflow concentrations and fluxes of Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+,, Cl-, SO42-, NO3- and H+ and stemflow volume-weighted mean concentrations and fluxes for three size classes of broadleaf trees and three size classes of palms. The concentrations of most solutes were higher in stemflow than in rainfall and increased with increasing tree and palm size. Concentration enrichments from rainfall to stemflow and throughfall were particularly high (81-fold) for NO3-. Stemflow fluxes of NO3- and H+ exceeded throughfall fluxes but stemflow fluxes of other solutes were less than throughfall fluxes. Stemflow solute fluxes to the forest soil were dominated by fluxes on babassu palms, which represented only 4% of total stem number and 10% of total basal area. For NO3-, stemflow contributed 51% of the total mass of nitrogen delivered to the forest floor (stemflow + throughfall) and represented more than a 2000-fold increase in NO3- flux compared what would have been delivered by rainfall alone on the equivalent area. Because these highly localized fluxes of both water and NO3- persist in time and space, they have the potential to affect patterns of soil moisture, microbial populations and other features of soil biogeochemistry conducive to the creation of hotspots for nitrogen leaching and denitrification, which could amount to an important fraction of total ecosystem fluxes. Because these hotspots occur over very small areas, they have likely gone undetected in previous studies and need to be considered as an important feature of the biogeochemistry of palm-rich tropical forest. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Retention of canopy trees as biological legacies for balancing woody biomass production and biodiversity in managed aspen forests of the Great Lakes Region

Green-tree retention under the conceptual framework of ecological forestry has the potential to provide both biomass feedstock for industry and maintain quality wildlife habitat. I examined the effects of retained canopy trees as biological legacies (“legacy trees”) in aspen (Populus spp.) forests on above-ground live woody biomass, understory plant floristic quality, and bird diversity. Additionally, I evaluated habitat quality for a high conservation priority species, the Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera). I selected 27 aspen-dominated forest stands in northern Wisconsin with nine stands in each of three legacy tree retention treatments (conifer retention, hardwood retention, and clearcuts or no retention) across a chronosequence (4-36 years post-harvest). Conifer retention stands had greater legacy tree and all tree species biomass but lower regenerating tree biomass than clearcuts. Coniferous but not hardwood legacy trees appeared to suppress regenerating tree biomass. I evaluated the floristic quality of the understory plant assemblage by estimating the mean coefficient of conservatism (C). Mean C was lower in young stands than in middle-age or old stands; there was a marginally significant (p=0.058) interaction effect between legacy tree retention treatment and stand age. Late-seral plant species were positively associated with stand age and legacy tree diameter or age revealing an important relationship between legacy tree retention and stand development. Bird species richness was greatest in stands with hardwood retention particularly early in stand development. Six conservation priority bird species were indicators of legacy tree retention or clearcuts. Retention of legacy trees in aspen stands provided higher quality nest habitat for the Golden-winged Warbler than clearcuts based on high pairing success and nesting activity. Retention of hardwoods, particularly northern red oak (Quercus rubra), yielded the most consistent positive effects in this study with the highest bird species richness and the highest quality habitat for the Golden-winged Warbler. This treatment maintained stand biomass comparable to clearcuts and did not suppress regenerating tree biomass. In conclusion, legacy tree retention can enhance even-aged management techniques to produce a win-win scenario for the conservation of declining bird species and late-seral understory plants and for production of woody biomass feedstock from naturally regenerating aspen forests.