Padrões de coocorrência, períodos de atividade e a influência do uso do solo sobre a probabilidade de ocorrência de anfíbios anuros da porção centro-sul do Cerrado

Abstract

Ecosystem modification for agricultural purposes may trigger negative effects on biodiversity through many processes, such as habitat loss and fragmentation observed in many taxa. This is especially important for many amphibian species, which present a variety of requirements in their different life stages, making them the most threatened vertebrates. Thus, carrying out a sampling throughout the south-central Cerrado and using occurrence probability models, in chapter 1 we evaluated the influence of land use on open habitat anurans. In chapter 2, we present the results of these analyses for anuran species found in forest fragments of the biome. Furthermore, in chapter 3, we describe the species´ activity patterns, testing the hypothesis of phylogenetic signal in such patterns. In this chapter, we also describe spatial and temporal co-occurrence patterns for the registered anuran species. In chapter 1, we found that different percent of soil cover exerted influence on the occurrence of some anuran species throughout the Cerrado. For the species registered in forest fragments (chapter 2), we did not find significant effects of forest cover on anurans´ occurrence, except for Barycholos ternetzi, which could be explained by the generalist habit of most Cerrado species. Finally, in chapter 3, most positive co-occurrences suggest spatial and temporal partition in acoustic niche in sites that probably offer similar ecological conditions required by the species. Additionally, our analyses detected phylogenetic signal in calling activity patterns in different periods of the day. Our results suggest that even species widely distributed in the Cerrado, as Dendropsophus minutus and Boana sp. (gr. albopunctata) may be negatively affected by human habitat modifications. The description of these results is important for anuran conservation and management actions, mainly for a biome considered a priority area for biodiversity conservation, such as the Cerrado.