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Souza-Oliveira AF, Zuquim G, Martins LF, Bandeira LN, Diele-Viegas LM, Cavalcante VH, Baccaro F, Colli GR, Tuomisto H, Werneck FP. The role of environmental gradients and microclimates in structuring communities and functional groups of lizards in a rainforest-savanna transition area. PeerJ 2024; 12:e16986. [PMID: 38685936 PMCID: PMC11057429 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.16986] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Environmental heterogeneity poses a significant influence on the functional characteristics of species and communities at local scales. Environmental transition zones, such as at the savanna-forest borders, can act as regions of ecological tension when subjected to sharp variations in the microclimate. For ectothermic organisms, such as lizards, environmental temperatures directly influence physiological capabilities, and some species use different thermoregulation strategies that produce varied responses to local climatic conditions, which in turn affect species occurrence and community dynamics. In the context of global warming, these various strategies confer different types of vulnerability as well as risks of extinction. To assess the vulnerability of a species and understand the relationships between environmental variations, thermal tolerance of a species and community structure, lizard communities in forest-savanna transition areas of two national parks in the southwestern Amazon were sampled and their thermal functional traits were characterized. Then, we investigated how community structure and functional thermal variation were shaped by two environmental predictors (i.e., microclimates estimated locally and vegetation structure estimated from remote sensing). It was found that the community structure was more strongly predicted by the canopy surface reflectance values obtained via remote sensing than by microclimate variables. Environmental temperatures were not the most important factor affecting the occurrence of species, and the variations in ecothermal traits demonstrated a pattern within the taxonomic hierarchy at the family level. This pattern may indicate a tendency for evolutionary history to indirectly influence these functional features. Considering the estimates of the thermal tolerance range and warming tolerance, thermoconformer lizards are likely to be more vulnerable and at greater risk of extinction due to global warming than thermoregulators. The latter, more associated with open environments, seem to take advantage of their lower vulnerability and occur in both habitat types across the transition, potentially out-competing and further increasing the risk of extinction and vulnerability of forest-adapted thermoconformer lizards in these transitional areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan F. Souza-Oliveira
- Coordenação de Biodiversidade, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa da Amazonia, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
| | - Gabriela Zuquim
- Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Lidia F. Martins
- Coordenação de Biodiversidade, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa da Amazonia, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
| | - Lucas N. Bandeira
- Coordenação de Biodiversidade, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa da Amazonia, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
| | | | | | - Fabricio Baccaro
- Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
| | - Guarino Rinaldi Colli
- Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil
| | - Hanna Tuomisto
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Fernanda P. Werneck
- Coordenação de Biodiversidade, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa da Amazonia, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
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Alés RG, Acosta JC, Blanco G, Galdeano AP. Effects of habitat perturbation on lizard assemblages in the center-west of the Arid Chaco region, Argentina. AN ACAD BRAS CIENC 2023; 95:e20200927. [PMID: 37646706 DOI: 10.1590/0001-3765202320200927] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2020] [Accepted: 05/04/2021] [Indexed: 09/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Several human disturbances contribute to the decrease of vertebrate species' richness and abundance, altering the processes of an ecosystem. We evaluate richness, diversity and relative abundance of species for lizard assemblages at sites with different degrees of perturbation in the center-west of the Arid Chaco region in Argentina. Between 2015 and 2018, six lizard assemblages were sampled monthly -using pitfall traps- in three areas of the Chaco, with a perturbed and an unperturbed (control) replica at each of the areas: (1) Chaco Mountain plain, (2) Chaco Mountain slope, and (3) Chaco Plains, and habitat characteristics of each study site were recorded. We captured 1446 lizards, belonging to 12 species. The perturbed area at the Chaco Mountain plain showed the greatest richness, diversity and abundance of species. In the perturbed Chaco Plains, species abundance decreased by about 50% with respect to the control site. Liolaemus chacoensis was the dominant species at all sites. Some species could be negatively affected by a total loss of arboreal strata, tree trunks and fallen leaves. Structural parameters of lizard assemblages were related to the habitat characteristics; therefore, these results provide information for the conservation and management of lands and lizard assemblages in the Arid Chaco.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rodrigo Gómez Alés
- DIBIOVA (Gabinete Diversidad y Biología de Vertebrados del Árido), Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Av. Ignacio de la Roza 590 (O), Rivadavia, San Juan, Argentina
- CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Av. Ignacio de la Roza 590 (O), Rivadavia, San Juan, Argentina
| | - Juan Carlos Acosta
- DIBIOVA (Gabinete Diversidad y Biología de Vertebrados del Árido), Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Av. Ignacio de la Roza 590 (O), Rivadavia, San Juan, Argentina
| | - Graciela Blanco
- DIBIOVA (Gabinete Diversidad y Biología de Vertebrados del Árido), Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Av. Ignacio de la Roza 590 (O), Rivadavia, San Juan, Argentina
| | - Ana Paula Galdeano
- DIBIOVA (Gabinete Diversidad y Biología de Vertebrados del Árido), Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Av. Ignacio de la Roza 590 (O), Rivadavia, San Juan, Argentina
- CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Av. Ignacio de la Roza 590 (O), Rivadavia, San Juan, Argentina
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Silva KRDA, Gomes LG, Ferreira VL, Strüssmann C, Moreira LFB. Seasonal changes in taxonomic and functional diversity of lizard communities in southern Brazilian Pantanal. AN ACAD BRAS CIENC 2022; 94:e20201793. [PMID: 36477224 DOI: 10.1590/0001-3765202220201793] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2020] [Accepted: 01/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Seasonal changes play a key ecological role, structuring biotic processes and communities. Yet we generally lack an understanding of how seasonal flood regimes affect communities in floodplains. Herein, we investigated the effects of seasonal changes in taxonomic and functional diversity of lizard communities in southern Pantanal ecoregion. Lizards were sampled in seven sites encompassing seasonally flooded grasslands and dense arboreal savannas, across rainy and dry seasons (2005-2006). Functional diversity metrics were based on three morphological traits and included intraspecific variability. We collected a total of 810 lizards from 13 species. Species richness did not differ across seasons or months. Lizard abundance varied among sampling months, but did not differ between rainy and dry season. Low values of abundance were recorded at drawdown period. Community composition did not vary between seasons. Functional diversity metrics exhibited random distributions, and both functional richness and evenness were not influenced by seasons. Although communities seem to be resilient to seasonal variations, our findings highlighted that transition from rainy to dry season may represent an important constraint on lizard abundance. Including traits related to food acquisition and predator avoidance could provide new insights into the effects of seasonal floods on floodplains' lizard communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karoline R DA Silva
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso/UFMT, Instituto de Biociências, Av. Fernando Corrêa da Costa, 2367, 78060-900 Cuiabá, MT, Brazil
| | - Liara G Gomes
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso/UFMT, Instituto de Biociências, Av. Fernando Corrêa da Costa, 2367, 78060-900 Cuiabá, MT, Brazil
| | - Vanda L Ferreira
- Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul/UFMS, Instituto de Biociências, Av. Costa e Silva, s/n, 79070-900 Campo Grande, MS, Brazil
| | - Christine Strüssmann
- Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso/UFMT, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Av. Fernando Corrêa da Costa, 2367, 78060-900 Cuiabá, MT, Brazil
| | - Leonardo F B Moreira
- Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa do Pantanal/INPP, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Av. Fernando Corrêa da Costa, 2367, 78060-900 Cuiabá, MS, Brazil
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Diversity patterns of lizard assemblages from a protected habitat mosaic in the Brazilian Cerrado savanna. JOURNAL OF TROPICAL ECOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1017/s0266467422000244] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Differences in habitat complexity and structure can directly influence the composition, diversity, and structure of species assemblages. Measurements of functional and phylogenetic diversity complement the commonly used measurements of taxonomic diversity, elucidating the relationships between species, their traits, and their evolutionary history. In this study, we evaluated how the mosaic of open and forested formations in a federal conservation unit in the western portion of the Brazilian Cerrado savanna influences the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic structure of lizard assemblages. Lizards were sampled for 15 months using pitfall traps set in open and forested formations. We recorded 292 lizards distributed among 16 species from eight families, with species composition differing among the formations. Richness was greater in the assemblages from open formations, while functional diversity and phylogenetic variability were greater in those of forested formations. Lizard assemblages in open formations were functionally and phylogenetically clustered, probably as a result of environmental filters acting on species, while the assemblages from forested formations were randomly structured. Different environmental and historical mechanisms have apparently shaped the current diversity of lizards in the region. This study shows that Cerrado vegetation mosaics can promote wide variation in different aspects of the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic structure from the lizard assemblages.
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Barros RA, Dorado‐Rodrigues TF, Strüssmann C. Taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of lizard assemblages across habitats and seasons in a Brazilian Cerrado area. AUSTRAL ECOL 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/aec.13181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Rafael Assis Barros
- Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação da Biodiversidade Instituto de Biociências Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso Avenida Fernando Corrêa da Costa, 2367 Cuiabá 78060‐900 Brazil
- Laboratório de Herpetologia Centro de Biodiversidade Instituto de Biociências Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso Avenida Fernando Corrêa da Costa, 2367 Cuiabá 78060900 Brazil
| | - Tainá Figueras Dorado‐Rodrigues
- Laboratório de Herpetologia Centro de Biodiversidade Instituto de Biociências Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso Avenida Fernando Corrêa da Costa, 2367 Cuiabá 78060900 Brazil
| | - Christine Strüssmann
- Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso Avenida Fernando Corrêa da Costa, 2367 Cuiabá 78060900 Brazil
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Abreu TLS, Berg SB, Faria IP, Gomes LP, Marinho‐Filho JS, Colli GR. River dams and the stability of bird communities: A hierarchical Bayesian analysis in a tropical hydroelectric power plant. J Appl Ecol 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Sandro B. Berg
- Departamento de Zoologia Universidade de Brasília Brasília Brazil
| | - Iubatã P. Faria
- Grupo de Pesquisa sobre Populações de Aves Frugívoras Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul Três Lagoas Brazil
| | | | | | - Guarino R. Colli
- Departamento de Zoologia Universidade de Brasília Brasília Brazil
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Gonçalves-Sousa JG, Mesquita DO, Ávila RW. Structure of a Lizard Assemblage in a Semiarid Habitat of the Brazilian Caatinga. HERPETOLOGICA 2019. [DOI: 10.1655/herpetologica-d-19-00026.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- José Guilherme Gonçalves-Sousa
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Bioprospecção Molecular, Departamento de Química Biológica, Universidade Regional do Cariri, CE 60020-181, Brazil
| | - Daniel Oliveira Mesquita
- Laboratório de Herpetologia, Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, PB 60440-900, Brazil
| | - Robson Waldemar Ávila
- Laboratório de Herpetologia, Departamento de Química Biológica, Universidade Regional do Cariri, CE 63100-000, Brazil
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Diele-Viegas LM, Werneck FP, Rocha CFD. Climate change effects on population dynamics of three species of Amazonian lizards. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol 2019; 236:110530. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2019.110530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2019] [Revised: 06/28/2019] [Accepted: 07/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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