Environmental and biotic influences: understanding acoustic diversity in anuran amphibian communities of Atlantic Forest

Abstract

Communities can be defined as populations occurring together across time and space, and the processes related to the permanence of these populations are studied from the assembly of communities. The biodiversity can be measured by differents methods, such as alpha-diversity and phylogenetic diversity. Methods based on phylogenies can infer processes of assembly of communities, showing different phylogenetic structures. Another way to measure the diversity of a community is to consider its 'soundscape', and it has been questioned how the distinction between soundscapes varies across communities. Thus, anurans are an ideal model for studies on soundscape in biological communities, since they compose choirs and present vocalization behavior to attract females. So, this project aims to investigate acoustic diversity in the anuran communities along the Atlantic Forest, proposing the following questions: 1) How the acoustic space is occupied by species from different communities? 2) The phylogenetic structure of these communities is related to acoustic diversity? and 3) Frequent species in communities of Atlantic Forest modulate their vocalizations due to the environmental complexity and / or soundscape? This work will be carried in the Atlantic Forest, PE Serra do Mar, PE Cantareira and PN Serra da Bocaina. Data collection will be performed between September and March, between 10 and 15 distinct water bodies, where data will be collected regarding species diversity, acoustics and phylogenetics, as well as environmental variables. (AU)