Date of Award:

8-2015

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Wildland Resources

Committee Chair(s)

Karen H. Beard

Committee

Karen H. Beard

Committee

Douglas Ramsey

Committee

Edmund Brodie Jr.

Committee

Dennis Rödder

Committee

Eric Gese

Abstract

Anura is a diverse group with more than 7382 species described, which represents 88% of the species belonging to the Class Amphibia. Anurans are among the first organisms to be affected by environmental stressors, so when they show decline in the wild, it is a warning to other species, including humans. It is alarming that one-third of the world’s anurans are facing extinction. Following the same trend, a substantive portion of the 988 recognized species of the Atlantic Forest have suffered population declines and local extinctions, attributed primarily to habitat changes.

Despite the unique life history characteristics that make amphibians valuable as an indicator taxon and the expectation that they might respond strongly to habitat changes because of their physiological needs and tolerances, few studies have examined edge effects and matrix use in anurans of the Atlantic Forest. Habitat modification urges scientists to study and understand frog response to these potential threats and also gather data on their ecology and taxonomy.

Ecology of most species has been neglected; for example, no extensive compilation of antipredator behavior has been published for Atlantic Forest frogs. Habitat modification is especially problematic considering that some species can disappear even before being formally described. New species are increasingly described with the increase in sampling effort in remote areas and microhabitats, such as in the pitcher plants of Bromeliaceae from the mountainous region. In this dissertation, I sought to overcome the poor knowledge on anuran response to habitat changes and showed that breeding guild determines anuran response to edge effects and matrix use. Furthermore, I present a database comprising 224 records, of which 102 (45%) were collected during my fieldwork, 116 (52%) were compiled from the literature, and six (3%) were reported by colleagues. The 224 records represent 165 species, and include 16 families of anurans.

During my fieldwork, I found five undescribed species of anurans and herein I present a description of the first bromeliad-dwelling species of the genus Dendropsophus. My results provide: i) essential information for conservationists elaborating more reliable management initiatives to protect anuran species from different breeding guilds, ii) an extensive database of antipredator behavior of anurans that could be used to understand interesting ecological and evolutionary questions, and iii) a description of a new anuran species including its phylogenetic relationship, vocalization, ecology and conservation status.

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