Amphibians of grasslands in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil (Campos Sulinos) (original) (raw)

Amphibians have a wide variety of life histories strategies, playing important roles in aquatic and terrestrial food webs (Wells, 2007). They are particularly sensitive to environmental changes, due to their morphological and physiological traits, such as a highly permeable skin and complex life cycles (Duellman and Trueb, 1986). As a result, habitat loss, fragmentation, accompanied by microclimatic changes in temperature and humidity, are the main threats to local populations (Cushman, 2006; Becker et al., 2007). Recent research involving Brazilian amphibians has focused on species richness patterns and spatial distributions in poorly sampled regions (e.g., Conte and Rossa-Feres, 2006; Bastazini et al., 2007; Canelas and Bertoluci, 2007; Menin et al., 2008). Nonetheless, many gaps remain to understand the geographic distribution of amphibian species, such as in the grasslands (Campos Sulinos) of southern Brazil (reviewed in Santos et al., 2014). Campos Sulinos are the oldest vegetation formation in southern Brazil formed during the Pleistocene (Behling and Pillar, 2007). Over time, warmer and wetter climates have favored the introgression of patches of forests scattered among grasslands. Together, these grasslands and scattered forests form a natural mosaic landscape (Maack, 2012).