Seasonal variation in the leaf-litter frog community (Amphibia: Anura) from an Atlantic Forest Area in the Salto Morato Natural Reserve, southern Brazil

摘要

In this study we provide the first data regarding community parameters of leaf-litter anurans inhabiting a forest floor in the state of Parana, southern Brazil, including information on community species richness, composition, specific density and biomass. Our study was conducted at Salto Morato Natural Reserve using forty plots of 4×4 m for each one of the four seasons (winter, spring, summer and autumn), totaling 2.560 m~2 of forest floor sampled. We sampled a total of 96 frogs inhabiting the forest floor, belonging to seven species: Brachycephalus hermogenesi (Giaretta & Sawaya, 1998), Ischnocnema guentheri (Steindachner, 1864), Haddadus binotatus (Spix, 1824), Leptodactylus gr. marmoratus, Physalaemus spiniger (Miranda-Ribeiro, 1926), Proceratophrys boiei (Wied-Neuwied, 1824), and Rhinella abei (Baldissera, Caramaschi & Haddad, 2004). The overall frog density in the forest floor was 3.73 ind/100m~2, with I. guentheri (1.37 ind/100 m~2) being the most common species and R. abei (0.19 ind/100 m~2), the rarest. The estimated overall frog mass in the community was 3.29 g. The abundance, richness and density varied consistently among the four seasons sampled, with the highest values occurring in the spring and summer seasons.