Abstract
We studied the use of polyvinil chloride pipes (PVC pipes) by frogs as artificial shelters in a Coastal Plain forest in the Vale Natural Reserve, north of Espírito Santo state, southeastern Brazil from June 2015 to May 2016. We used 14 plots distributed in the Coastal Plain Forest following the RAPELD methodology of sampling. The frogs were sampled in transects along the plots, using the active search method, with visual and auditory sampling. We recorded two species of frogs (Aparasphenodon brunoi and Scinax argyreornatus) using PVC pipes as shelters in the plots in the Forest. Of the 468 PVC pipes established along plots, 38 of them (8.1%) were used as shelter by the frogs. For both frog species, about 33% of microhabitats used in the forest were the interior of PVC pipes. We concluded that the PVC pipes might constitute artificial shelters for at least two of the frog species living in the community of the Coastal Plain Forest, potentially being of relevance in conservation programs. In altered areas and those in which there has been the loss of types of microhabitats, the addition of these PVC pipes as artificial shelters may represent additional and complementary microhabitats to keep or increase the population stocks of arboreal and semi-arboreal frog species and having a size that allow them entering the shelter. These artificial shelters can play an important role in conservation of these frogs in fragmented areas where the availability of the microhabitats of these frog species were locally reduced.
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Acknowledgements
This study is portion of the results of the “Programa de Pesquisas em Biodiversidade da Mata Atlântica (PPBio Mata Atlântica Program)” of Ministério do Meio Ambiente do Brasil (MMA) and was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (Process No. 457458/212-7). The authors benefitted from grants provided to Helena Godoy Bergallo (process 307715/2009-4) and to Carlos Frederico Duarte Rocha (304791/2010-5; 470265/2010-8; 302974/2015-6) from Conselho Nacional do Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and through “Cientistas do Nosso Estado” Program from FAPERJ to Carlos Frederico Duarte Rocha (process No. E-26/102.765.2012 E-26/202.920.2015) and to Helena Godoy Bergallo (process E-26.103.016.2011). Juliane Pereira-Ribeiro and Átilla Colombo Ferreguetti received master and PhD fellowships from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior. The Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio) provided the permit for the development of the study (No. 46327-4) and The Vale Natural Reserve for the Research in the Reserve.
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Pereira-Ribeiro, J., Ferreguetti, Á.C., Bergallo, H.G. et al. Use of polyvinyl chloride pipes (PVC) as potential artificial shelters for amphibians in a coastal plain forest of southeastern Brazil. J Coast Conserv 21, 327–331 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-016-0480-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-016-0480-6