Influência de processos ecológicos e evolutivos na estruturação de comunidades de anfíbios na Mata Atlântica Brasileira

Abstract

My thesis is composed of two independent chapters, but together they provide a theoretical framework of the ecological and evolutionary processes responsible for the anuran community structure in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. In the first chapter, I evaluated the relative importance of climate (current and Pleistocene) and topography in the spatial distribution of the phylogenetic structure of communities. In the second chapter, I evaluate how the climatic gradient affects the spatial distribution of functional traits (reproductive modes) of anuran species. The results show that the patterns of phylogenetic structure of the communities and the functional traits of anurans are not distributed randomly in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Protected areas located in regions with high temperatures and marked seasonality in precipitation, and in areas with low topographic variation presented phylogenetic clustered communities and species with reproductive modes that allow greater resistance to desiccation. On the other hand, protected areas located in areas with milder temperatures and constant precipitation throughout the year, considered as refuges during the Pleistocene, and with great topographic variation presented phylogenetically dispersed communities and species with more specialized reproductive modes, such as direct development. Thus, these results suggest that climatic and topographic gradients limit the distribution of anuran species of certain lineages with more specialized reproductive modes.