%0 Journal Article
%T Forest Fragments Surrounded by Sugar Cane Are More Inhospitable to Terrestrial Amphibian Abundance Than Fragments Surrounded by Pasture
%A Paula Eveline Ribeiro D¡¯Anuncia£¿£¿o
%A Marcela Fernandes Vilela Silva
%A Lucas Ferrante
%A Diego Santana Assis
%A Thamires Casagrande
%A Andr¨¦a Zalmora Garcia Coelho
%A B¨¢rbara Christina Silva Amancio
%A T¨²lio Ribeiral Pereira
%A Vin¨ªcius Xavier da Silva
%J International Journal of Ecology
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/183726
%X In recent years, there has been increasing interest in matrix-type influence on forest fragments. Terrestrial amphibians are good bioindicators for this kind of research because of low vagility and high philopatry. This study compared richness, abundance, and species composition of terrestrial amphibians through pitfall traps in two sets of semideciduous seasonal forest fragments in southeastern Brazil, according to the predominant surrounding matrix (sugar cane and pasture). There were no differences in richness, but fragments surrounded by sugar cane had the lowest abundance of amphibians, whereas fragments surrounded by pastures had greater abundance. The most abundant species, Rhinella ornata, showed no biometric differences between fragment groups but like many other amphibians sampled showed very low numbers of individuals in fragments dominated by sugar cane fields. Our data indicate that the sugar cane matrix negatively influences the community of amphibians present in fragments surrounded by this type of land use. 1. Introduction Species persistence in fragmented landscapes may heavily depend on their tolerance to the surrounding-environment matrix [1¨C3]. The surrounding matrix can influence resource availability [4], animal dispersion [5], habitat fragment occupation [2, 6], and also the distribution and population dynamics within the fragment [1, 7, 8]. Generally, the higher the structural similarity of the matrix with the fragment, the greater the gene flow and dispersion of animals [1], as well as the richness and abundance of mammals [9], birds [10], and amphibians [11]. The matrix importance to the response of species to fragmentation depends not only on its structural characteristics, but also species biology [12]. Amphibians are sensitive to environmental alterations, because most have a biphasic life cycle [13], permeable skin [14], low vagility [15], and strong philopatry [16]. Also, they have been suffering declines worldwide, mainly due to habitat loss, overutilization, and chytridiomycosis which is an infectious disease caused by fungus [17, 18]. In surveys focused on amphibians and matrices, there is predominance of studies with pastures. Deforestation for pasture establishment can lead to richness reduction and the predominance of generalist and terrestrial anurans [19]. The pasture matrix can also reduce reproductive success of Phyllomedusa tarsius [20], amphibian richness [21], and abundance [22]. Pastures negatively impact amphibians, especially large and terrestrial species whose eggs are deposited on land, but whose larvae
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijecol/2013/183726/