Contribution of environmental variables to anuran community structure in the Caatinga Domain of Brazil.docVIP

Phyllomedusa 10(1):45–64, 2011 ? 2011 Departamento de Ciências Biológicas - ESALQ - USP ISSN 1519-1397 Contribution of environmental variables to anuran community structure in the Caatinga Domain of Brazil Ariane Lima Xavier and Marcelo F. Napoli 1 1,2,3 1 Programa de Pós-Gradua??o em Ecologia e Biomonitoramento, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Rua Bar?o de Jeremoabo, Campus Universitário de Ondina, 40170-115 Salvador, BA, Brazil, Phone: +55 71 3283-6562. E-mail: arianelx@.br. 2 3 Museu de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, 40170-115 Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. E-mail: napoli@ufba.br. Associate Researcher, Departamento de Vertebrados, Museu Nacional/UFRJ, Brazil. Abstract Contribution of environmental variables to anuran community structure in the Caatinga Domain of Brazil. To ascertain the in?uence of environmental variables on the structure of anuran communities, we conducted tests to determine which variables best explain the spatial distribution patterns of different communities of anurans in a rocky, montane environment characterized mainly by open habitats and gallery forests. The study area is the Sete Passagens State Park in the State of Bahia, Brazil, an area included in the Chapada Diamantina Region and in the Caatinga Morphoclimatic Domain. We sampled 20 plots (60 × 25 m) during two rainy seasons, and measured 13 environmental variables. The environmental matrix was reduced to four synthetic axes through the principal component analysi, and the anuran community matrix was reduced to a synthetic axis through the non- metric multidimensional scaling method. We tested the association between environmental axes (independent variables) and community composition (dependent variable) using a multiple regression analysis. The single axis signi?cantly associated with the specie