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Nesting patterns among Neotropical species assemblages: can reserves in urban areas be failing to protect anurans?

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Abstract

Nestedness among species assemblages implies that sites of lower species richness are subsets of richer sites in a regional species pool. This nestedness is a reflection of a non-random process of species loss as a consequence of factors that promote the disaggregation of assemblages. The impoverishment of assemblage diversity is more often observed in fragmented landscapes. This non-random process has important implications for conservation. We recorded 95 species of anurans across 22 protected areas, of which 11 sites were in an urban matrix and 11 were in a non-urban matrix. We found that sites in the urban matrix had lower richness and high values of nestedness with no spatial autocorrelation among geographic distances and species composition. Thus, species were non-randomly distributed across the landscape and a nested pattern was documented from non-urban matrix sites to urban matrix sites. The impoverishment of assemblages toward the urban matrix sites may suggest that protected areas in an urban matrix are less suitable for anuran conservation than those in a non-urban matrix sites. Both the ecological revitalization of protected areas in urban matrix and protection of non-urban forested sites are needed for the conservation of Neotropical anurans.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to Nadson R. Simões for providing valuable comments on the manuscript, and Uningá and UniCesumar for providing financial support for fieldwork. We thank Hussam Zaher and Taran Grant (MZUSP), and Luis Felipe Toledo (ZUEC) for allowing examination of material under their care. SEMAA (Secretaria do Meio Ambiente e Agricultura) de Maringá and Divisão Técnica de Medicina Veterinária e Manejo de Fauna Silvestre (DEPAVE-3/SVMA/PMSP) for logistical support in the early stages of this work. We are very grateful to the anonymous reviewers, and the editors, for suggestions that improved this manuscript. Erik Wild improved our use of English. RLM (140710/2013-2; 152303/2016-2), RBF (231020/2013-9), LRM (141259/2014-0), RPB and RJS thank CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnológico) for scholarships. VB and IPA thank CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) and PROEX (Programa de Excelência Acadêmica) for scholarships. RBF thanks the Ecology Center at Utah State University and CAPES for scholarships. LRM, RJS, and CFBH (2008/50928-1; 2008/54472-2; 2013/50741-7; 2014/23677-9) thank FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation). LRM thank COTEC/IF (40.452/2004; 40.574/2006) for the sampling permits. RJS thanks FADA-UNIFESP for research fellowships. We thank ICMBio (Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade) for collection permits (076/06, 032/2005, 019/07, 16350-1, 54085-1 and 088/07).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecologia, Laboratório de Herpetologia e Comportamento Animal, Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG), 74001-970, Cx. Postal 131, Goiânia, GO, Brazil

    Ricardo Lourenço-de-Moraes & Rogério P. Bastos

  2. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Aquáticos Continentais, Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), Maringá, PR, 87020-900, Brazil

    Ricardo Lourenço-de-Moraes, Vinicius Guerra & Igor de Paiva Affonso

  3. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Zoologia), Laboratório de Herpetologia, Departamento de Zoologia e Centro de Aquicultura (CAUNESP), Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Rio Claro, SP, 13506-970, Brazil

    Leo R. Malagoli

  4. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia de Ecossistemas, Universidade Vila Velha (UVV), Vila Velha, ES, 29102-770, Brazil

    Rodrigo B. Ferreira

  5. Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Campus Ponta Grossa, Av. Monteiro Lobato, S/N, Km 04, Ponta Grossa, PR, 84016-210, Brazil

    Igor de Paiva Affonso

  6. Departamento de Zoologia e Centro de Aquicultura (CAUNESP), Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Rio Claro, SP, 13506-970, Brazil

    Célio F. B. Haddad

  7. Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas, Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC), São Bernardo do Campo, SP, 09606-070, Brazil

    Ricardo J. Sawaya

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  1. Ricardo Lourenço-de-Moraes
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  2. Leo R. Malagoli
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  3. Vinicius Guerra
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  8. Rogério P. Bastos
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Correspondence to Ricardo Lourenço-de-Moraes.

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Lourenço-de-Moraes, R., Malagoli, L.R., Guerra, V. et al. Nesting patterns among Neotropical species assemblages: can reserves in urban areas be failing to protect anurans?. Urban Ecosyst 21, 933–942 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-018-0767-5

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