scholarly journals Uso y selección de microhábitat en un ensamble de anuros del Chaco Serrano de Argentina

2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo A. Nieva Cocilio ◽  
Juan C. Acosta ◽  
Graciela M. Blanco

Introduction: Research on spatial resource usage and partition strategies is important to understand the mechanisms of coexistence in sympatric amphibian species, even more when there are temporal variations in habitat availability. Objective: To learn about the patterns of microhabitat use, its seasonal variations and the possible influence of phylogeny on an anuran assembly of the Chaco Serrano in Argentina. Methods: Samplings were carried out in the Valle Fértil Natural Park protected area, Valle Fértil Department, San Juan, between 2012 and 2017. In the field, we recorded the microhabitat where each specimen was found, and we also measured site variables. In addition, microhabitats availability was determined. Data were analyzed using Manly’s selectivity index. Generalized linear models (GLM) were used to assess temporal variations in microhabitat use. Results: The species evaluated were: Rhinella arenarum arenarum, Leptodactylus latrans, Pleurodema tucumanum and Odontophrynus occidentalis. All species showed differences in usage frequencies: R. a. arenarum showed preferences for rocky and aquatic sites, P. tucumanum showed preferences towards bare soil and rocky sites, L. latrans and O. occidentalis showed greater preferences for rocky and aquatic sites. All species but Odontophrynus exhibited seasonal variations in microhabitat selection and usage. Odontophrynus occidentalis showed differences in usage proportions among microhabitats. Conclusions: This study shows plasticity in microhabitat usage as an important determinant of anuran spatial distribution, without apparent restrictions imposed by space competition or phylogeny. When species activity is coincident, the space resource may be distributed in a way that species overlap is reduced.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Yang ◽  
Minqiang Zhou ◽  
Ting Wang ◽  
Bo Yao ◽  
Pengfei Han ◽  
...  

Abstract. Atmospheric CO2 mole fractions are observed at Beijing (BJ), Xianghe (XH), and Xinglong (XL) in North China using the Picarro G2301 Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy instruments. The measurement system is described comprehensively for the first time. The geo-distances among these three sites are within 200 km, but they have very different surrounding environments: BJ is inside the megacity; XH is in the suburban area; XL is in the countryside on a mountain. The mean and standard deviation of CO2 mole fractions at BJ, XH, and XL between October 2018 and September 2019 are 448.4 ± 12.8 ppm, 436.0 ± 9.2 ppm and 420.6 ± 8.2 ppm, respectively. The seasonal variations of CO2 at these three sites are similar, with a maximum in winter and a minimum in summer, which is dominated by the terrestrial ecosystem. However, the seasonal variations of CO2 at BJ and XH are more affected by human activities as compared to XL. By using CO2 at XL as the background, CO2 enhancements are observed simultaneously at BJ and XH. The diurnal variations of CO2 are driven by the boundary layer height, photosynthesis and human activities at BJ, XH and XL. Moreover, we address the impact of the wind on the CO2 mole fractions at BJ and XL. This study provides an insight into the spatial and temporal variations of CO2 mole fractions in North China.


EcoHealth ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 270-279
Author(s):  
Federico Castro Monzon ◽  
Mark-Oliver Rödel ◽  
Jonathan M. Jeschke

AbstractInfection records of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), a pathogen that has devastated amphibian populations worldwide, have rapidly increased since the pathogen’s discovery. Dealing with so many records makes it difficult to (a) know where, when and in which species infections have been detected, (b) understand how widespread and pervasive Bd is and (c) prioritize study and management areas. We conducted a systematic review of papers and compiled a database with Bd infection records. Our dataset covers 71 amphibian families and 119 countries. The data revealed how widespread and adaptable Bd is, being able to infect over 50% of all tested amphibian species, with over 1000 confirmed host species and being present in 86 countries. The distribution of infected species is uneven among and within countries. Areas where the distributions of many infected species overlap are readily visible; these are regions where Bd likely develops well. Conversely, areas where the distributions of species that tested negative overlap, such as the Atlantic Coast in the USA, suggest the presence of Bd refuges. Finally, we report how the number of tested and infected species has changed through time, and provide a list of oldest detection records per country.


2005 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 293-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Rebelo ◽  
Maria João Cruz

AbstractThe introduction of predators in amphibian breeding habitats may contribute to the decline or extinction of amphibian populations. Procambarus clarkii, a North American crayfish, was recently introduced in the Iberian Peninsula, being now quite abundant in the southwest, a region with no native crayfish species and where 13 amphibian species may be found. We performed mesocosm experiments to evaluate the vulnerability of amphibian embryos and larvae from those species to P. clarkii. Despite the presence of alternative food (vegetation and leaf litter), embryo survival in the presence of P. clarkii was low for all species except Bufo bufo. However, newly hatched B. bufo tadpoles were readily consumed. P. clarkii reduced larval survival in all species, with those species that in nature have few contacts with predators at the larval stage suffering the highest mortalities. Most larvae reduced their activity and/or altered microhabitat use in the presence of P. clarkii, but these behavioural modifications did not lead necessarily to a low vulnerability to predation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 953
Author(s):  
Gustavo Alfredo Fava ◽  
Juan Carlos Acosta ◽  
Graciela Mirta Blanco

In subtropical regions like the Chaco Serrano (33° S), rainfall has a marked seasonality, and water flood, caused by heavy rains, may have important consequences for dependent ecosystems. Conversely, the high pressure on available resources during dry periods can also affect the fauna diversity and distribution. Even though birds have shown to be excellent ecological indicators of these shifts in the environment, currently little is known about the avifauna of the Argentine Chaco Serrano phytogeographic district. Our aim was to study the resident bird population status in the Southern Chaco Serrano, its fluctuations in richness and abundance, and its relationship to seasonal variations, in monthly and annual hydroperiods. In order to assess the resident bird status over a two year period (2011 Mar.-2013 Feb.) we carried out 18 sampling surveys during pre-breeding (spring), breeding (summer) and non breeding periods (autumn-winter), in the Northeastern part of the Valle Fértil Natural Park, San Juan province, Argentina. During each site survey, we recorded bird assemblages found in six transects, and obtained bird abundance and species diversity. A mixed general linear model was employed to evaluate relationships between the studied variables. We found a total of 98 species of birds belonging to 33 families (44 resident species, 23 spring visitors, six summer visitors, two winter visitors and 23 with scarce registers). We also registered 68 of these species in both hydroperiods, 28 only during rainy periods and only two during the dry period. Both richness and abundance showed the highest values during the pre-breeding and rainy seasons, while different tendencies were detected during the isolated monthly rainfalls. These changes in bird densities were associated with the arrival of migratory species, mainly spring visitors, and probably in relationship with their reproductive activity, and to seasonal fluctuations in food resources. The Southern Chaco Serrano is a subtropical semiarid place that seems to be an important breeding habitat for many migrant bird species, which in turn promoted seasonal changes in species density and diversity, mainly during rainy years. This work contributed to our understanding on the causes of richness and abundance variations on birds, and will contribute to this important group management and conservation in this area.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 342 ◽  
Author(s):  
SEVIM POLAT ◽  
TUBA TERBIYIK KURT ◽  
SÜLEYMAN TUĞRUL

Seasonal variations in species composition and abundance of tintinnids were investigated in the eutrophic coastal and offshore waters of Mersin Bay. Twelve sampling cruises were performed from September 2008 to February 2011. A total of 85 tintinnid taxa were identified. Among the recorded genera, agglutinated Tintinnopsis had the largest number of species (12 species), followed by hyaline loricated Eutintinnius (9 species), and Proplectella (7 species). Stenosemella ventricosa, Tintinnopsis beroidea, T. compressa, Favella azorica, and Helicostemella subulata were the dominant species during the study period. There were clear seasonal variations in species composition and abundance of tintinnids. The highest number of tintinnid species occurred in January 2009 and November 2010 in the entire study area, while the lowest species number occurred in March 2009. Morever, species numbers were higher in offshore stations than coastal stations. Some species were present in the coastal area of the bay, and other species were present offshore. The highest tintinnid abundance values were found in September 2008 (820 ind L-1) and August 2009 (749 ind L-1) at coastal stations. The high abundance values in the coastal stations indicates that an increase of tintinnids is closely related to trophic status of the marine environment. In connection with these results, correlation analysis revealed that chlorophyll-a had an important effect on tintinnid abundance. Tintinnid communities may be used as a potential bio-indicator for assessing the trophic state of the coastal seas and bays. 


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuan-Fu Feng ◽  
Hsin-Hua Huang ◽  
Ya-Ju Hsu ◽  
Yih-Min Wu

<p>Ambient noise interferometry is a promising technique for studying crustal behaviors, providing continuous measurements of seismic velocity changes (dv/v) in relation to physical processes in the crust over time. In addition to the tectonic-driven dv/v changes, dv/v is also known to be affected by environmental factors through rainfall-induced pore-pressure changes, air pressure loading changes, thermoelastic effects, and so forth. In this study, benefiting from the long-term continuous data of Broadband Array in Taiwan for Seismology (BATS) that has been operated since 1994, we analyze continuous seismic data from 1998 to 2019 by applying single-station cross-component (SC) technique to investigate the temporal variations of crust on seismic velocity. We process the continuous waveforms of BATS stations, construct the empirical Green’s functions, and compute daily seismic velocity changes by the stretching technique in a frequency band of 0.1 to 0.9 Hz. We observe co-seismic velocity drops associated with the inland moderate earthquakes. Furthermore, clear seasonal cycles, with a period of near one-year, are also revealed at most stations, but with different characteristics. Systematic spectral and time-series analyses with the weather data are conducted and show that the rainfall-induced pore-pressure change is likely the main cause to the seasonal variations with high correlations. The strong site-dependency of these seasonal variations also precludes air pressure and temperature which varies smoothly in space from being dominant sources and suggests spatially-varying complex hydro-mechanical interaction across the orogenic belt in Taiwan.</p>


Author(s):  
C. F. D. Rocha ◽  
C. M. Militão ◽  
D. Vrcibradic ◽  
M. Van Sluys ◽  
J. Pereira-Ribeiro ◽  
...  

Abstract Although currently there is already a set of studies regarding ecological aspects of some particular reptile and amphibian species living in Brazilian sandy coastal plains (including the so-called “restinga” and “campo nativo” habitats), there is comparatively few information on the species composition usually associated to these environments. During 31 years (1988-2019) of herpetological studies carried out in sandy coastal plains environments by our research team of the Laboratory of Vertebrate Ecology (Department of Ecology, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, in Rio de Janeiro Brazil) we have surveyed reptile and amphibian communities and performed different studies with similar methods in 70 sites from 10 different states along the Brazilian coast. Our surveys resulted in records of 87 species of reptile (five turtles, two crocodylians, six amphisbaenians, 36 lizards and 39 snakes) from 24 families, and 77 species of anuran amphibians from nine families. We have studied multiple natural history topics for anurans and reptiles which resulted in the publication of some specific ecological studies, especially regarding some species, encompassing population and community ecology, foraging and feeding habits, species activity, thermoregulation, reproduction, use of microhabitats, and parasitism by ecto and endoparasites. Our results along these three decades have also contributed for the description of four new lizard species (Ameivula nativo, Glaucomastix littoralis, G. abaetensis and G. itabaianensis). Our studies constitute an important contribution to the knowledge of the ecology of anuran amphibians and reptiles in these ecosystems, as well as to the conservation of sandy coastal plains environment. The checklist presented in this study, based on our records of sandy coastal plains herpetofauna, provides for many localities along the Brazilian coast, the needed knowledge on species occurrence, including the presence of endemic and/or endangered species, which can be of value for many conservation actions.


2006 ◽  
Vol 274 (1607) ◽  
pp. 253-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Bosch ◽  
Luís M Carrascal ◽  
Luis Durán ◽  
Susan Walker ◽  
Matthew C Fisher

Amphibian species are declining at an alarming rate on a global scale in large part owing to an infectious disease caused by the chytridiomycete fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis . This disease of amphibians has recently emerged within Europe, but knowledge of its effects on amphibian assemblages remains poor. Importantly, little is known about the environmental envelope that is associated with chytridiomycosis in Europe and the potential for climate change to drive future disease dynamics. Here, we use long-term observations on amphibian population dynamics in the Peñalara Natural Park, Spain, to investigate the link between climate change and chytridiomycosis. Our analysis shows a significant association between change in local climatic variables and the occurrence of chytridiomycosis within this region. Specifically, we show that rising temperature is linked to the occurrence of chytrid-related disease, consistent with the chytrid-thermal-optimum hypothesis. We show that these local variables are driven by general circulation patterns, principally the North Atlantic Oscillation. Given that B. dendrobatidis is known to be broadly distributed across Europe, there is now an urgent need to assess the generality of our finding and determine whether climate-driven epidemics may be expected to impact on amphibian species across the wider region.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 5993-6006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maosheng He ◽  
Jorge Luis Chau

Abstract. In the last decades, mesospheric tides have been intensively investigated with observations from both ground-based radars and satellites. Single-site radar observations provide continuous measurements at fixed locations without horizontal information, whereas single-spacecraft missions typically provide global coverage with limited temporal coverage at a given location. In this work, by combining 8 years (2009–2016) of mesospheric winds collected by five specular meteor radars from three different longitudinal sectors at boreal midlatitudes (49±8.5∘ N), we develop an approach to investigate the most intense global-scale oscillation, namely at the period T=12±0.5 h. Six waves are resolved: the semidiurnal westward-traveling tidal modes with zonal wave numbers 1, 2, and 3 (SW1, SW2, SW3), the lunar semidiurnal tide M2, and the upper and lower sidebands (USB and LSB) of the 16 d wave nonlinear modulation on SW2. The temporal variations of the waves are studied statistically with a special focus on their responses to sudden stratospheric warming events (SSWs) and on their climatological seasonal variations. In response to SSWs, USB, LSB, and M2 enhance, while SW2 decreases. However, SW1 and SW3 do not respond noticeably to SSWs, contrary to the broadly reported enhancements in the literature. The USB, LSB, and SW2 responses could be explained in terms of energy exchange through the nonlinear modulation, while LSB and USB might previously have been misinterpreted as SW1 and SW3, respectively. Besides, we find that LSB and M2 enhancements depend on the SSW classification with respect to the associated split or displacement of the polar vortex. In the case of seasonal variations, our results are qualitatively consistent with previous studies and show a moderate correlation with an empirical tidal model derived from satellite observations.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maosheng He ◽  
Jorge L. Chau

Abstract. In the last decades, mesospheric tides have been intensively investigated with observations from both ground-based radars and satellites. Single-site radar observations provide continuous measurements at fixed locations without horizontal information whereas single spacecraft missions provide typically global coverage however with limited temporal coverage at a given location. In this work, combining eight years (2009–2016) of mesospheric winds collected by five specular meteor radars from three different longitudinal sectors at boreal midlatitudes (49 ± 8.5 °N), we develop an approach to investigate the most intense global-scale oscillation, namely, at the period T = 12 &plusmn 0.5 hr. Resolved are six waves: the semidiurnal westward-traveling tidal modes with zonal wavenumber 1, 2, and 3 (SW1, SW2, SW3), the lunar semidiurnal tide M2, and the upper and lower sidebands (USB and LSB) of the 16-day wave nonlinear modulation on SW2. The temporal variations of the waves are studied statistically with a special focus on their responses to sudden stratospheric warming events (SSWs), and on their climatological seasonal variations. In response to SSWs, USB, LSB, and M2 enhance, while SW2 decreases. However, SW1 and SW3 do not respond noticeably to SSWs, contrary to the broadly-reported enhancements in the literature. The USB, LSB, and SW2 responses could be explained in terms of energy exchange through the nonlinear modulation, while LSB and USB might previously have been misinterpreted as SW1 and SW3, respectively. Besides, we find that LSB and M2 enhancements depend on the SSW classification with respect to the associated split or displacement of the polar vortex. In the case of seasonal variations, our results are qualitatively consistent with previous studies, and show a moderate correlation with an empirical tidal model derived from satellite observations.


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