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opennotspecifiedFeb 2020View details →

FIGURE 1 in Uncovering a hidden diversity: a new species of freshwater shrimp Macrobrachium (Decapoda: Caridea: Palaemonidae) from Neotropical region (Brazil) revealed by morphological review and mitochondrial genes analyses

FIGURE 1. Characterization and location of the São Francisco river basin in Brazil. The red border indicates the location of Grande Sertão Veredas National Park and the distribution range of Macrobrachium veredensis sp. nov. Modified from MMA 2006 and ANA 2016.

FIGURE 8 in Accessing cryptic diversity in Neotropical rattlesnakes (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalus) with the description of two new species

FIGURE 8. Crotalus ehecatl in life, (A) ECO-CH-H 3778, holotype from San José Tintonishac, Las Margaritas, Chiapas; (B) adult specimen from Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas; (C) UTA-R 51456, adult male from Santa Inés, Santa María Chimalapa, Oaxaca; (D) neonate specimen from Santa María Mixtequilla, Oaxaca; (E) neonate specimen from San Pedro Tapanatepec, Oaxaca; (F) adult specimen from San Pedro Totolápam, Oaxaca. Photos by J.A. Hidalgo García (A), E.B. Jiménez Díaz (B), E.N. Smith courtesy of J.A. Campbell (C), I.T. Ahumada Carrillo (D), HERP.MX (E), and F. Martínez Belmar (F).

FIGURE 5 in Accessing cryptic diversity in Neotropical rattlesnakes (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalus) with the description of two new species

FIGURE 5. Dorsal and lateral view of the head of the holotype of Crotalus mictlantecuhtli (SDNHM 22416).

FIGURE 3 in Accessing cryptic diversity in Neotropical rattlesnakes (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalus) with the description of two new species

FIGURE 3. (A), Results of the principal component analyses between the members of the Crotalus durissus species complex with 95% confidence regions. PC1 and PC2 together explain 33.4% of the total variance. (B), Reanalysis including only members of norhten clade (Crotalus culminatus); (C), members of southern clade (Crotalus durissus) with morphological data available. (D), Bivariate plots with 95% confidence regions for the first two axes derived from scores of discriminant analyses for members of Crotalus durissus species complex.

FIGURE 1 in Accessing cryptic diversity in Neotropical rattlesnakes (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalus) with the description of two new species

FIGURE 1. (A) Maximum-likelihood phylogram of the four genes (cyt b, ND4, ND2, c-mos, 2596 bp) analysis (-ln L=- 17,270.83). Tip labels are as follows: 3-letter subspecies code for the Crotalus durissus species complex, following Campbell & Lamar (2004), locality and haplotypes in parentheses, see Appendix 1. Numbers along branches indicate bootstrap support-ML and Bayesian posterior probability. For clarity, support is only shown for important nodes. (B) Maximum-likelihood phylogram of the four genes (cyt b, ND4, ND2, c-mos, 2596 bp) analysis (-ln L=-17,270.83). Tip labels are as follows: 3-letter subspecies code for the Crotalus molossus species complex and outgroups, following Campbell & Lamar (2004) and Anderson & Greenbaum (2012), locality and haplotypes in parentheses, see Appendix 1. Numbers along branches indicate bootstrap support-ML and Bayesian posterior probability. For clarity, support is only shown for important nodes.

opencc-zeroAug 2021View details →

Data from: Topography, more than land cover, explains genetic diversity in a Neotropical savanna treefrog

Aim: Effective conservation policies rely on information about population genetic structure and the connectivity of remnants of suitable habitat. The interaction between natural and anthropogenic discontinuities across landscapes can uncover the relative contributions of different barriers to gene flow, with direct consequences for decision-making in conservation. Therefore, we aimed to quantify the relative roles of land cover and topographic variables on the population genetic differentiation and diversity of a stream-breeding savanna treefrog (Bokermannohyla ibitiguara) across its range. Location: Serra da Canastra mountain range, Cerrado of Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Methods: We collected and extracted DNA samples from 12 populations within and outside a strictly protected park, and used 17 microsatellite markers to assess genetic structure, among-population differentiation, and within-population diversity measures. We incorporated landscape data derived from digital models and satellite images to create connectivity matrices to correlate with genetic differentiation using Mantel tests. We used generalized linear models and path analyses to assess the roles of each landscape variable in shaping genetic diversity in this species. Results: Populations within and outside the park boundaries belonged to four genetic clusters. Most populations showed evidence of limited gene flow, with significant genetic differentiation, except for those within the park, which also had higher levels of allelic richness and heterozygosity. However, genetic differentiation among populations in this landscape was primarily explained by topographic complexity. Likewise, within-population genetic measures were best explained by models including elevation and topographic complexity, and not the amount of natural habitat or gallery forests. Main conclusions: Our results underscore that topography may be a strong historical factor shaping genetic structure among amphibian populations. Therefore, effective conservation strategies for endangered amphibians should avoid focusing exclusively on habitat suitability, and incorporate topographic complexity, which seems to be a key factor for the fauna of the extremely threatened Brazilian savanna.

opencc-zeroJan 2021View details →

Diversity and phylogenetic community structure across elevation during climate change in a family of hyperdiverse neotropical beetles (Staphylinidae)

Environmental stress from abiotic conditions imposes physiological limits on individuals within communities, and these stressful conditions can act as a filter on the species present in any given environment. Such abiotic stressors can reduce a community's diversity and make its composition more phylogenetically clustered. Using a decade of staphylinid beetle (Staphylinidae, Coleoptera, rove beetles) collections made across a 1,500 m elevation gradient in northwestern Costa Rica (2008-2017) we asked what species lived there, how large and overlapping were the communities across this gradient, and what relationship was there between elevation and diversity. Using DNA barcodes for identification and phylogenetic estimates of community structure, we found high turnover across elevation, and that staphylinid diversity increased linearly with elevation. Because of this, we found staphylinid diversity was negatively related to surface area and temperature, and positively with precipitation. We suggest that historical biogeography and contemporary environmental stress have combined to produce these observed patterns. The forests in which these beetles are found are heating and drying rapidly and our finding that diversity increases with elevation suggests that there will be catastrophic biodiversity loss in the coming decades.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →

Data from: Strong spatial structure, Pliocene diversification and cryptic diversity in the Neotropical dry forest spider Sicarius cariri

The Brazilian Caatinga is part of the seasonally dry tropical forests, a vegetation type disjunctly distributed throughout the Neotropics. It has been suggested that during Pleistocene glacial periods, these dry forests had a continuous distribution, so that these climatic shifts may have acted as important driving forces of the Caatinga biota diversification. To address how these events affected the distribution of a dry forest species, we chose Sicarius cariri, a spider endemic to the Caatinga, as a model. We studied the phylogeography of one mitochondrial and one nuclear gene and reconstructed the paleodistribution of the species using modelling algorithms. We found two allopatric and deeply divergent clades within S. cariri, suggesting that this species as currently recognized might consist of more than one independently evolving lineage. Sicarius cariri populations are highly structured, with low haplotype sharing among localities, high fixation index and isolation by distance. Models of paleodistribution, Bayesian reconstructions and coalescent simulations suggest that this species experienced a reduction in its population size during glacial periods, rather than the expansion expected by previous hypotheses on the paleodistribution of dry forest taxa. In addition to that, major splits of intraspecific lineages of S. cariri took place in the Pliocene. Taken together, these results indicate S. cariri has a complex diversification history dating back to the Tertiary, suggesting the history of dry forest taxa may be significantly older than previously thought.

opencc-zeroDec 2012View details →

Data from: Pollen flow in fragmented landscapes maintains genetic diversity following stand-replacing disturbance in a neotropical pioneer tree, Vochysia ferruginea Mart.

In forests with gap disturbance regimes, pioneer tree regeneration is typically abundant following stand-replacing disturbances, whether natural or anthropogenic. Differences in pioneer tree density linked to disturbance regime can influence pollinator behaviour and impact on mating patterns and genetic diversity of pioneer populations. Such mating pattern shifts can manifest as higher selfing rates and lower pollen diversity in old growth forest populations. In secondary forest, where more closely related pollen donors occur, an increase in biparental inbreeding is a potential problem. Here, we investigate the consequences of secondary forest colonisation on the mating patterns and genetic diversity of open-pollinated progeny arrays for the long-lived, self-compatible pioneer tree, Vochysia ferruginea, at two Costa Rican sites. Five microsatellite loci were screened across adult and seed cohorts from old growth forest with lower density, secondary forest with higher density, and isolated individual trees in pasture. Progeny from both old growth and secondary forest contexts were predominantly outcrossed (tm=1.00) and experienced low levels of biparental inbreeding (tm−ts=0.00–0.04). In contrast to predictions, our results indicated that the mating patterns of V. ferruginea are relatively robust to density differences between old growth and secondary forest stands. In addition, we observed that pollen-mediated gene flow possibly maintained the genetic diversity of open-pollinated progeny arrays in stands of secondary forest adults. As part of a natural resource management strategy, we suggest that primary forest remnants should be prioritised for conservation to promote restoration of genetic diversity during forest regeneration.

opencc-zeroDec 2014View details →

Data from: Managing Neotropical oil palm expansion to retain phylogenetic diversity

The expansion of tropical agriculture is a major driver of the extinction crisis. A key question is whether biodiversity losses can be minimized by restricting future expansion to low-productivity farmland and retaining forest fragments, especially in rapidly changing Neotropical landscapes. We investigated these methods in the context of avian phylogenetic diversity, which summarizes the evolutionary history preserved within communities. Evidence suggests that phylogenetic diversity plays an important role in maintaining key ecosystem functions. We collected data on avian communities in the Colombian Llanos, a region highlighted as being optimal for the expansion of oil palm, at the expense of existing habitats including forest remnants and improved cattle pastures. PD, a measure of phylogenetic richness, and MPD, a measure of the phylogenetic distance between individuals in a community in deep evolutionary time, were significantly higher in forest than in oil palm or pasture, but did not differ significantly between oil palm and pasture. MNTD, a measure of distance between individuals in a community at the intra-familial and intra-generic level, was significantly higher in oil palm and pasture than in forest. However, median evolutionary distinctiveness (ED) was highest in pasture, partly due to the abundance of distinct waterbirds, but did not differ between oil palm and forest. PD in oil palm and pasture increased with the extent of remnant forest cover. Synthesis and applications. The PD (a measure of phylogenetic richness) and MPD (a measure of the phylogenetic distance) of bird communities in this region can best be conserved by ensuring that new oil palm plantations replace pasturelands rather than forest. A secondary benefit of preserving forest would be the enhancement of PD in the surrounding agricultural landscape. This strategy will need to be coupled with measures to either reduce pasture demand or to intensify existing cattle production to ensure that forest is not replaced by pasture elsewhere.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →

Data from: Adaptive landscape and functional diversity of Neotropical cichlids: implications for the ecology and evolution of Cichlinae (Cichlidae; Cichliformes)

Morphological, lineage and ecological diversity can vary substantially even among closely related lineages. Factors that influence morphological diversification, especially in functionally relevant traits, can help to explain the modern distribution of disparity across phylogenies and communities. Multivariate axes of feeding functional morphology from 75 species of Neotropical cichlid and a stepwise-AIC algorithm were used to estimate the adaptive landscape of functional morphospace in Cichlinae. Adaptive landscape complexity and convergence, as well as the functional diversity of Cichlinae, were compared with expectations under null evolutionary models. Neotropical cichlid feeding function varied primarily between traits associated with ram feeding vs. suction feeding/biting and secondarily with oral jaw muscle size and pharyngeal crushing capacity. The number of changes in selective regimes and the amount of convergence between lineages was higher than expected under a null model of evolution, but convergence was not higher than expected under a similarly complex adaptive landscape. Functional disparity was compatible with an adaptive landscape model, whereas the distribution of evolutionary change through morphospace corresponded with a process of evolution towards a single adaptive peak. The continentally distributed Neotropical cichlids have evolved relatively rapidly towards a number of adaptive peaks in functional trait space. Selection in Cichlinae functional morphospace is more complex than expected under null evolutionary models. The complexity of selective constraints in feeding morphology has likely been a significant contributor to the diversity of feeding ecology in this clade.

opencc-zeroDec 2019View details →

Data from: Ant diversity in Neotropical savannas: hierarchical processes acting at multiple spatial scales

1. Understanding what creates and maintains macroscale biodiversity gradients is a central focus of ecological and evolutionary research. Spatial patterns in diversity are driven by a hierarchy of factors operating at multiple scales. Historical and climatic factors drive large-scale patterns of diversity by affecting the size of regional species pools, while habitat heterogeneity or microhabitat characteristics further influence species coexistence at small scales. 2. We tested the degree to which the species-energy, historical factors, habitat heterogeneity and local environment hypotheses explain observed patterns of ant diversity across hierarchical spatial scales. 3. We sampled ground-dwelling ants at 29 sites within a Neotropical savanna region, the Brazilian Cerrado. We measured species density – an abundance-dependent diversity metric – and rarefied species richness – an abundance-independent metric – at spatial scales with varying grain sizes. For each hypothesis, two correlates were used to predict ant diversity patterns: i) species-energy: rainfall and productivity; ii) historical factors: historical variation in rainfall and refugial areas; iii) habitat heterogeneity: heterogeneity in greenness and diversity of land cover; iv) local factors: contents of sand and coarse fragments in the soil. 4. Ant diversity patterns correlated to net primary productivity and to the proportion of coarse fragments in the soil, corroborating the species-energy and local environment hypotheses, respectively. Soil negatively influenced species density, but not rarefied species richness, which was positively influenced by productivity. We found scale dependencies in the effects of soil/productivity on species density; productivity best predicted species density patterns at large scales, since sampling completeness offset the abundance-driven effects of soil. 5. Considering abundance differences may help to discern the mechanisms underlying the relationship between macroscale diversity patterns and its ecological drivers. Plant productivity affected ant diversity independently of abundance, possibly by limiting the size of regional species pools. On the other hand, soil properties had an abundance-dependent effect on ant diversity, indicating a sampling mechanism. Our findings are consistent with predictions of the hierarchical theory of diversity. Large-scale patterns of productivity limit regional diversity, an effect that cascades down to finer spatial scales, where soil properties influence the number of coexisting species.

opencc-zeroNov 2019View details →

Data from: Effects of land-use change on functional and taxonomic diversity of Neotropical bats

Human land-use changes are particularly extensive in tropical regions, representing one of the greatest threats to terrestrial biodiversity and a key research topic in conservation. However, studies considering the effects of different types of anthropogenic disturbance on the functional dimension of biodiversity in human-modified landscapes are rare. Here, we obtained data through an extensive review of peer-reviewed articles and compared 30 Neotropical bat assemblages in well-preserved primary forest and four different human-disturbed habitats in terms of their functional and taxonomic diversity. We found that disturbed habitats that are structurally less similar to primary forest (pasture, cropland and early-stage secondary forest) were characterized by a lower functional and taxonomic diversity, as well as community level-functional uniqueness. These habitats generally retained fewer species that perform different ecological functions compared to higher-quality landscape matrices, such as agroforestry. According to functional trait composition, different bat ensembles respond differently to landscape change, negatively affecting mainly gleaning insectivorous bats in pasture, narrow-range species in cropland, and heavier animalivorous bats in secondary forest. Although our results highlight the importance of higher-quality matrix habitats to support elevated functional and taxonomic bat diversity, the conservation of bat species that perform different ecological functions in the mosaic of human-modified habitats also depends on the irreplaceable conservation value of well-preserved primary forests. Our study based on a pooled analysis of individual studies provides novel insights into the effects of different human-modified habitats on Neotropical bat assemblages.

opencc-zeroMay 2019View details →

Data from: Habitat diversity associated with island size and environmental filtering control the species richness of rock-savanna plants in neotropical inselbergs

Disentangling the multiple factors controlling species diversity is a major challenge in ecology. Island biogeography and environmental filtering are two influential theories emphasizing respectively island size and isolation, and the abiotic environment, as key drivers of species richness. However, few attempts have been made to quantify their relative importance and investigate their mechanistic basis. Here, we applied structural equation modelling, a powerful method allowing test of complex hypotheses involving multiple and indirect effects, on an island-like system of 22 French Guianan neotropical inselbergs covered with rock-savanna. We separated the effects of size (rock-savanna area), isolation (density of surrounding inselbergs), environmental filtering (rainfall, altitude) and dispersal filtering (forest-matrix openness) on the species richness of all plants and of various ecological groups (terrestrial versus epiphytic, small-scale versus large-scale dispersal species). We showed that the species richness of all plants and terrestrial species was mainly explained by the size of rock-savanna vegetation patches, with increasing richness associated with higher rock-savanna area, while inselberg isolation and forest-matrix openness had no measurable effect. This size effect was mediated by an increase in terrestrial-habitat diversity, even after accounting for increased sampling effort. The richness of epiphytic species was mainly explained by environmental filtering, with a positive effect of rainfall and altitude, but also by a positive size effect mediated by enhanced woody-plant species richness. Inselberg size and environmental filtering both explained the richness of small-scale and large-scale dispersal species, but these ecological groups responded in opposite directions to altitude and rainfall, that is positively for large-scale and negatively for small-scale dispersal species. Our study revealed both habitat diversity associated with island size and environmental filtering as major drivers of neotropical inselberg plant diversity and showed the importance of plant species growth form and dispersal ability to explain the relative importance of each driver.

opencc-zeroNov 2019View details →

Data from: Museums and cradles of diversity are geographically coincident for narrowly distributed Neotropical snakes

Factors driving the spatial configuration of centres of endemism have long been a topic of broad interest and debate. Due to different eco-evolutionary processes, these highly biodiverse areas may harbour different amounts of ancient and recently diverged organisms (paleo- and neo-endemism, respectively). Patterns of endemism still need to be measured at distinct phylogenetic levels for most clades and, consequently, little is known about the distribution, the age and the causes of such patterns. Here we tested for the presence of centres with high Phylogenetic Endemism (PE) in the highly diverse Neotropical snakes, testing the age of these patterns (paleo- or neo-endemism), and the presence of PE centres with distinct phylogenetic composition. We then tested whether PE is predicted by topography, by climate (seasonality, stability, buffering and relictualness), or biome size. We found that most areas of high PE for Neotropical snakes present a combination of both ancient and recently diverged diversity, which is distributed mostly in the Caribbean region, Central America, the Andes, the Atlantic Forest and on scattered highlands in central Brazil. Turnover of lineages is higher across Central America, resulting in more phylogenetically distinct PE centres compared to South America, which presents a more phylogenetically uniform snake fauna. Finally, we found that elevational range (topographic roughness) is the main predictor of PE, especially for paleo-endemism, whereas low paleo-endemism levels coincide with areas of high climatic seasonality. Our study highlights the importance of mountain systems to both ancient and recent narrowly distributed diversity. Mountains are both museums and cradles of snake diversity in the Neotropics, which has important implications for conservation in this region.

opennotspecifiedDec 2016View details →

FIGURE 6. Serrapinnus kriegi, UFRGS 20135, 20.2 in Inventory of the freshwater fishes from a densely collected area in South America — a case study of the current knowledge of Neotropical fish diversity

FIGURE 6. Serrapinnus kriegi, UFRGS 20135, 20.2 mm SL, rio Ibicuí, tributary of the rio Uruguay; new record for the state of Rio Grande do Sul.