Community structure of amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals in the Cerrado: the role of local and regional factors

Abstract

Although the composition and richness of the Cerrado vertebrate fauna have been relatively well studied, few studies focused on the causes of local and regional variation in community structure. This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of these causes by sampling amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals in a Cerrado vegetation mosaic and gathering additional data in the literature for these groups. The objectives of this proposal are: (1) to describe the structure of amphibian, reptile, and small mammal assemblages of different Cerrado vegetation types; (2) to describe the structure of amphibian assemblages in water bodies; (3) to test the effect of habitat structure on amphibian, reptile, and small mammal assemblages of different vegetation types; (4) to test the effect of habitat structure on amphibian assemblages in water bodies; and (5) to test the hypothesis that the physical conditions of dense Cerrado physiognomies function as an environmental filter for cerrado amphibians, reptiles, and small mammals. Samplings will be carried out at the Estação Ecológica de Santa Bárbara (Águas de Santa Bárbara, SP) using pitfall and live traps, and visual/auditory surveys. Current methods will be used in the diversity comparisons, multivariate analyses will be used to test for associations between diversity and habitat structure, and community phylogenetics methods will be used to detect environmental filter. (AU)