Diversification of the widespread neotropical frog Physalaemus cuvieri in response to Neogene-Quaternary geological events and climate dynamics.

Here we reconstructed the demographical history and the dispersal dynamics of Physalemus cuvieri through the Neogene-Quaternary periods by coupling DNA regions with different mutation rates, ecological niche modelling, reconstruction of spatio-temporal lineage dispersal and coalescent simulations. Still, to test alternative diversification scenarios we used approximate Bayesian computation. Molecular phylogenetic analysis recovered four deep and strongly supported clades, which we interpret as population lineages. The ancestral location reconstruction placed the root in southcentral Amazonia, and the dispersal events indicate that spatial displacement was widespread early in the diversification of this species. The demographical scenario of "Multiple Refugia" with recent lineage admixture was the most likely hypothesis to predict the observed genetic parameters of P. cuvieri. Our results revealed that Neogene orogenic events might have played a prominent role in the early diversification of P. cuvieri. The species shows deep divergences with strong regional population structure, despite its widespread distribution. Final uplift of the central Brazilian Plateau and formation of the river basins in Central South America played an important role in the origin, diversification and the maintenance of P. cuvieri lineages.

Differential effects of temperature change and human impact on European Late Quaternary mammalian extinctions.

Species that inhabited Europe during the Late Quaternary were impacted by temperature changes and early humans, resulting in the disappearance of half of the European large mammals. However, quantifying the relative importance that each factor had in the extinction risk of species has been challenging, mostly due to the spatio-temporal biases of fossil records, which complicate the calibration of realistic and accurate ecological niche modeling. Here, we overcome this problem by using ecotypes, and not real species, to run our models. We created 40 ecotypes with different temperature requirements (mean temperature from -20 °C to 25 °C and temperature range from 10 °C to 40 °C) and used them to quantify the effect of climate change and human impact. Our results show that cold-adapted ecotypes would have been highly affected by past temperature changes in Europe, whereas temperate and warm-adapted ecotypes would have been positively affected by temperature change. Human impact affected all ecotypes negatively, and temperate ecotypes suffered the greatest impacts. Based on these results, the extinction of cold-adapted species like Mammuthus primigenius may be related to temperature change, while the extinction of temperate species, like Crocuta crocuta, may be related to human impact. Our results suggest that temperature change and human impact affected different ecotypes in distinct ways, and that the interaction of both impacts may have shaped species extinctions in Europe.

Conservation biogeography of the Cerrado's wild edible plants under climate change: Linking biotic stability with agricultural expansion.

UNLABELLED: REMISE OF THE STUDY: Wild edible plants (WEPs) have an important cultural and economic role in human population worldwide. Human impacts are quickly converting natural habitats in agricultural, cattle ranch, and urbanized lands, putting native species on peril of risk of extinction, including some WEPs. Moreover, global climate changes also can pose another threat to species persistency. Here, we established conservation priorities for the Cerrado, a neotropical region in South America with high levels of plant endemism and vulnerability, aiming to assure long-term persistency of 16 most important WEPs. We evaluated these conservation priorities using a conservation biogeography framework using ecological patterns and process at a biogeographical scale to deal with species conservation features. METHODS: We built ecological niche models for 16 WEPs from Cerrado in the neotropics using climate models for preindustrial, past (Last Glacial Maximum) and future (year 2080) time periods to establish climatically stable areas through time, finding refugias for these WEPs. We used a spatial prioritization algorithm based on the spatial pattern of irreplaceability across the neotropics, aiming to ensure the persistence of at least 25% of range size in climatically stable areas for each WEP, using agricultural models as constraints. KEY RESULTS: The Southeast Cerrado was the most biotically stable and irreplaceable region for the WEPs compared with other areas across the neotropics. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings strongly suggest that the Southeast Cerrado should be considered a conservation priority, with new protected areas to be sustainably managed and restored, to guarantee the supply of cultural and ecosystem services provided from the Cerrado's WEPs.

Estrutura espacial e deposição de sementes de Hymenaea courbaril L. em um fragmento florestal no sudoeste goiano / Spatial structure and seed deposition of Hymenaea courbaril L. in a forestal fragment in the southeast of the Goiás State

O objetivo do presente trabalho é identificar e descrever o padrão de distribuição espacial de Hymenaea courbaril L. (Fabaceae) e os fatores condicionantes em um fragmento florestal, denominado Mata do Açude, município de Jataí Estado de Goiás. O procedimento adotado para coleta dos dados espaciais foi o método da distância conhecido como T ­ Square, utilizado para duas classes de tamanho: jovens e adultos, com circunferência de caule inferior e superior a 15 cm, respectivamente. Os fatores condicionantes analisados foram o padrão espacial de deposição das sementes e as características do substrato (solo e serrapilheira). A estrutura espacial da população foi identificada pelo teste de Hines (ht), a qual apresentou distribuição agregada, tanto para indivíduos adultos (ht = 1,47, p < 0,005) quanto juvenis (ht = 1,88, p < 0,005) e um maior número de sementes em torno de 4 m da planta-mãe. As condições edáficas não se diferenciaram entre os pontos amostrados, ao contrário da serrapilheira que apresentou diferenças significativas para umidade relativa e matéria seca. Os dados sugerem que o recrutamento e, consequentemente, a distribuição espacial dos jatobás na Mata do Açude é fortemente estruturada pelo padrão de deposição das sementes e pelas características do substrato, principalmente aquelas atribuídas à serrapilheira.

The objective of this study was to identify and describe the pattern of spatial distribution of Hymenaea courbaril L. (Fabaceae) and its structuring factors in the Mata do Açude forest fragment in Jataí Municipality, Goiás state. We used two individual size classes: juveniles and adult, with stalk circumference smaller and bigger than 15 cm, respectively. The population spatial data were sampled by the 'T-Square' distance method and the structuring factors analyzed were the spatial deposition pattern of seeds and substrate conditions (soil and litter). The Hines statistical test (ht) was used to detect the population spatial pattern. The tree population presented aggregated spatial structure, for both adults (ht = 1.47, p < 0.005) and juveniles (ht = 1.88, p < 0.005), with greater seed density at four meters from the plant. The soil conditions were not different among sampled points. On the other hand, the litter conditions presented significant differences for moisture and dried organic matter. These data suggested that the recruitment and spatial distribution of H. courbaril in the Mata do Açude is strongly structured by the seed deposition pattern and litter conditions.

Padrões espaciais da riqueza de espécies de viperídeos na Américado Sul: temperatura ambiental vs. cinética-bioquímica / Spatial patterns of viperid species richness in South America: environmental temperature vs. biochemical kinetics

Este estudo tem por objetivo testar a influência da temperatura na taxametabólica de viperídeos como um mecanismo básico de origem dos padrões espaciais deriqueza desse grupo na América do Sul, como proposto por Allen et al. (2002) dentro daTeoria Metabólica em Ecologia. Para isso, testamos a relação entre o logaritmo natural dariqueza de espécies de viperídeos e o inverso da temperatura (em Kelvin, 1000*K-1), apóscorrigir os efeitos da autocorrelação espacial, e verificamos se a reta estimada apresentainclinação de -9,0*T. As variáveis apresentaram baixo índice de correlação (r2 = 0,216; p <0,0001), com uma inclinação da reta de -3,737*T (C.I. (95%) ± 0,379). Os resultadosindicaram que os viperídeos não respondem à variação de temperatura da mesma forma queos demais grupos testados, uma vez que o intervalo de confiança para o ângulo da retaestimada não contempla o valor -9,0*T, como predito pelo modelo. O presente estudosugere que o padrão espacial da riqueza de espécies de viperídeos na América do Sul éestruturado por outros parâmetros além da temperatura, não contemplados no modelo deAllen et al. (2002).

The aim of this study was to testthe influence of temperature on metabolic rates of viperid species as the underlyingmechanism to explain the richness pattern of this group in South America, following theMetabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE) proposed by Allen et al. (2002). We tested MTEpredictions by considering the relationship between the natural logarithm of viperid speciesrichness and the inverse of temperature (in Kelvin, 1000*K-1) after to correct for spatialautocorrelation effects and to check whether the linear function presents a slope of -9.0*T.The relationship between variables presented low correlation coefficient (r2 = 0.216; P <0.0001) and a slope of -3.737*T (C.I. (95%) ± 0.379).These results showed that viperidsrespond in a different way to the temperature gradient in comparison with other taxa andthe prediction of Allen et al. (2002), since the confidence interval of slope in this case doesnot include the value of -9.0*T. This study demonstrates that temperature is not the soledriver of broad-scale spatial pattern of viperid species richness in South America.