| Resumo |
A key challenge in ecological research is to integrate data from different scales to evaluate the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that influence current patterns of biological diversity. Previous studies have shown that the climate oscillations of the Quaternary strongly influenced the current species composition of amphibians. However, we do not know how species are distributed in the assemblages in regards to their phylogenetic relatedness and traits (e.g., clustered or even) or how the spatial scale and species pool influence amphibian distribution in this group. Here, I will perform surveys to examine the medium-term effects of ecological and evolutionary processes in* the structure of 14 anuran communities considering different spatial scales. Therefore, I will address four main issues: (i) Temporal replacement in anuran composition over three years, considering different spatial scales, local and regional (ii) If reproductive modes in anurans exhibit phylogenetic signal and how they are distributed in the communities, (iii) How different spatial scales and species pool influence ; phylogenetic patterns of anuran communities, and (iv) If there is an environmental gradient (e.g., rainfall, temperature and topography) that determines the phylogenetic structure of communities of anuran. Thus, I believe that the approach adopted in this project is innovative in that it combines medium-term surveys with different types of data (phylogenetic, phenotypic and environmental space). At the end of this project I hope to contribute with new insights about how evolutionary processes (e.g., convergence or conservation niche), biogeographic (e.g., areas of speciation or extinction of species) and climate contemporaries (e.g., rainfall and temperature) influence the structure of communities amphibians at different spatial and temporal scales. Thus, these results may help in the processes of decision-making on biodiversity conservation of anuran species whereas understanding the different ecological and evolutionary processes that act on different spatial scales provide greater power prediction about which regions or clades will be negatively affected by the possible future climate change. |
