Anurans of Turvo State Park: testing the validity of Seasonal Forest as a new biome in Brazil

Abstract

The composition of the anuran community of Turvo State Park was compared with that of other localities of Mesophytic semideciduous Forest, aiming to test the hypothesis that localities situated nearest the Misiones nucleus support the new phytogeographic unit, known as Tropical Seasonal Forests Region. In total 32 amphibian species were recorded in the park area and surroundings: Anura, 30 native species and one exotic; Gymnophiona, one species. The ordination among the 20 localities of Seasonal Forest showed the formation of three groups with 45% similarity: group 1, composed of localities of south-eastern and central western regions; group 2, composed of the localities of the transitional portion with the Atlantic Forest sensu stricto and group 3, composed of the southern localities. The consolidation of the second group, which includes the occurrence of endemic species, supports the proposal of a new phytogeographic unit.

Keywords:

• community
• similarity
• richness
• reproductive modes

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the director and staff of TSP and Marcia Regina Spies for authorizing the use of program PRIMER-E. S.I. and V.M.C. are grateful to CAPES for the master's degree fellowships granted, and S.Z.C. is grateful to CNPq for the research fellowship (process n. 303359/2009-9).