Habitat Loss Reduces the Diversity of Frog Reproductive Modes in an Atlantic Forest Fragmented Landscape

• Published in: Biotropica 2015-01, Vol.47 (1), p.113-118
• Main Authors: Almeida‐Gomes, Mauricio, Rocha, Carlos F. D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: amphibian declines; Amphibians; Anura; Forests; fragment size; frogs; habitat changes; habitat destruction; habitat fragmentation; Habitat loss; Habitat preferences; Habitats; landscapes; Pasture; pastures; reproductive traits; species diversity; Species richness; Tropical Conservation; tropical forests
• ISSN: 0006-3606; 1744-7429
• DOI: 10.1111/btp.12168

Several amphibian species have ecological traits that can make them vulnerable to landscape changes, such as habitat preference and reproductive strategies. We evaluated how anuran species and their respective reproductive modes were distributed in an Atlantic Forest fragmented landscape, Southeastern Brazil. We sampled through visual encounter surveys three continuous forest sites, 12 forest fragments and five pasture areas (matrix) between July 2007 and March 2010. We recorded 50 anuran species with 15 reproductive modes, a third of them (33.3%) recorded only in continuous forest sites (modes 3, 8, 19, 25 and 36). These reproductive modes found only in continuous forest sites are typically forest‐associated, and seem to be more vulnerable to habitat loss. Additionally, we found a trend for larger fragments to harbor both higher number of types of reproductive sites and diversity of frog reproductive modes. Our findings suggests that fragment sizes can better predict the number of frog reproductive modes than the species richness in Atlantic Forest fragmented landscapes, and highlights the need to consider frog reproductive traits in future studies.