A5034875950- Plant and animal studies
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
- Amphibian and Reptile Biology
- Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation
- Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Plant Parasitism and Resistance
- Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Insect-Plant Interactions and Control
- Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Cocoa and Sweet Potato Agronomy
- Global trade, sustainability, and social impact
- Biological Control of Invasive Species
- Spanish Culture and Identity
- Coffee research and impacts
- Bat Biology and Ecology Studies
- Basque language and culture studies
- Lepidoptera: Biology and Taxonomy
- Hymenoptera taxonomy and phylogeny
- Fish biology, ecology, and behavior
- Lichen and fungal ecology
- Human-Animal Interaction Studies
- Cooperative Studies and Economics
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte
2015-2024
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz
2018
University of Aveiro
2014
Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos
2003-2013
Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
1999-2008
Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
2007-2008
Universidade de São Paulo
2007-2008
Secretaria do Meio Ambiente
2007
Hospital de Clínicas da Unicamp
2005
Macquarie University
1998-2003
The worldwide decline in amphibians has been attributed to several causes, especially habitat loss and disease. We identified a further factor, namely “habitat split”—defined as human-induced disconnection between habitats used by different life history stages of species—which forces forest-associated with aquatic larvae make risky breeding migrations suitable terrestrial habitats. In the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, we found that split negatively affects richness species but not development...
Summary 1 If different factors inhibiting plant growth, e.g. low rainfall or soil nutrients, were to select for species that have similar constellations of traits, then the unfavourable might usefully be grouped together as ‘stress’. 2 We offer a method assessing this issue. A mixture at site is described by point on plane with two traits axes. Change along an environmental gradient represented trajectory across trait‐plane. Trajectories gradients are compared. 3 measured leaf width,...
Summary The level of functional redundancy in natural communities is likely to modulate how ecosystem stability affected by local species extinction. Thus, extinction should have no effect if all similar functions, but a major each carries different functions. We provide probabilistic framework that, from any distribution number across groups, generates specific predictions groups are lost when become randomly extinct within given community. In particular, we predict many can go before...
Abstract In the past decades, Brazil made important progress in conservation of forest ecosystems. Non‐forest ecosystems ( NFE ), contrast, have been neglected, even though they cover large parts country and biodiversity levels comparable to forests. To avoid losing much its ecosystem services, sustainable land use policies need be extended . A strategy for Brazil's should encompass following elements: (1) creation new protected areas ; (2) enforcement legal restrictions use; (3) extension...
1. The environmental filtering hypothesis predicts that the abiotic environment selects species with similar trait values within communities. Testing this along multiple - and interacting gradients of climate soil variables constitutes a great opportunity to better understand predict responses plant communities ongoing changes. 2. Based on two key traits, maximum height specific leaf area (SLA), we assessed effects (mean annual temperature precipitation, precipitation seasonality),...
Abstract We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of values plant traits for taxa in Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). synthesises data on 448 across 28,640 from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxon descriptions. Traits vary scope physiological measures performance (e.g. photosynthetic gas exchange, water-use efficiency) to morphological attributes leaf area, seed mass, height) which link aspects ecological variation. contains...
Summary Ecologists have long recognized that plants occurring in areas of low rainfall or soil nutrients tend to smaller leaves than those more favourable regions. Working with a large data set (690 species at 47 sites spread widely through south‐east Australia) for which this reduction has been described previously, we investigated the morphology leaf size reduction, asking whether any patterns observed were consistent across evolutionary lineages between environmental gradients. Leaf...
Most amphibian species have biphasic life histories and undergo an ontogenetic shift from aquatic to terrestrial habitats. In deforested landscapes, streams forest fragments are frequently disjunct, jeopardizing the cycle of forest-associated amphibians with larvae. We tested impact habitat split--defined as human-induced disconnection between habitats used by different life-history stages a species--on four in severely fragmented landscape Brazilian Atlantic Forest. surveyed without...
Summary 1. Brazil is one of the world’s major producers food and biofuels. Agricultural expansion has driven rapid economic development but also had impacts on biodiversity conservation ecosystem services in country. 2. Here, we analyse recent advances applied ecological research consequences agricultural for Brazil, identify knowledge gaps, discuss how science can help guide more sustainable systems. 3. The majority native vegetation Brazilian biomes found within private lands, emphasizing...
Abstract Understanding how chronic anthropogenic disturbances are distributed in space leads to more effective conservation and management practices. This study provides a large‐scale overview of the Caatinga dry forest is potentially altered by disturbance. In particular, we investigate intensity potential disturbance varies (a) among geographic regions, (b) fragment sizes, (c) as function distance edge. A index (CDI) was derived represent five vectors: human population, infrastructure,...
Abstract Aim Intraspecific trait variation (ITV) within natural plant communities can be large, influencing local ecological processes and dynamics. Here, we shed light on how ITV in vegetative floral traits responds to large‐scale abiotic biotic gradients (i.e., climate species richness). Specifically, tested whether associations of with temperature, precipitation richness were consistent any four hypotheses relating stress tolerance competition. Furthermore, estimated the degree...
In the tropics, many plants offer housing and food for their specialized ant partners which, in return, benefit form of defence and/or nutrients, thus forming mutualistic bonds. Such ant-plants, also called myrmecophytes, occur together at a local scale, generating community patterns ant-plant associations. Here, we present first fully quantitative description an ant-myrmecophyte community. The study site Central Amazonian tropical rainforest had high myrmecophyte density about 380 ind. ha...
Mutualisms are inserted in a network of direct and indirect biotic interactions built within the framework imposed by abiotic setting. We carried out an experiment to test how availability light nutrients modulates interaction strength between Inga vera (Mimosoideae), Neotropical extrafloral-nectary-bearing plant, its associated ants. From July 2001 2003, 48 plants were grown old-field site following three-factor randomized blocked design where treatments were: ant (ants present absent),...
Abstract: Habitat loss is silently leading numerous insects to extinction. Conservation efforts, however, have not been designed specifically protect these organisms, despite their ecological and evolutionary significance. On the basis of species–host area equations, parameterized with data from literature interviews botanical experts, I estimated number specialized plant‐feeding (i.e., monophages) that live in 34 biodiversity hotspots committed extinction because habitat loss....
In the Neotropics, nearly 35% of amphibian species are threatened by habitat loss, fragmentation, and split; anuran with different developmental modes respond to disturbance in ways. This entails broad-scale strategies for conserving biodiversity advocates identification high conservation-value regions that significant a global or continental context could underpin more detailed conservation assessments towards such areas.We identified key ecoregion sets using an algorithm favors...
Abstract Understanding how plant life history affects species vulnerability to anthropogenic disturbances and environmental change is a major ecological challenge. We examined vegetation type, growth form, geographic range size relate extinction risk throughout the Brazilian Atlantic Forest domain. used database containing species‐level information of 6,929 angiosperms within 112 families molecular‐based working phylogeny. decision trees, standard regression, phylogenetic regression explore...
A recent study aimed to estimate the biodiversity conservation gaps of Brazilian protected area network by analysing more than 880 thousand records species presence from online databases. Although we agree with its general message that Protected Areas are poorly known, unevenly distributed, and not sufficient safeguard biodiversity, question methodological approach feel conclusions must be received uncritically. major concern is their analyses based on an arbitrary set widespread, abundant,...
The size and structure of the colony stinging plant-ant Pseudomyrmex concolor occupying two morphologically distinct Tachigali myrmecophytic host species was studied in order to discriminate between factors limiting ant size; specific hypotheses being a) food, b) territory c) nesting space. From intraspecific comparisons it is suggested that primarily controlled by total domatia space offered plant. space-limited hypothesis explains why plant-ants demonstrate host-limited foraging...
Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys biodiversity inventories. Atlantic Forest, most endangered ecosystems world, have high endemism radiated recently Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), lichen epiphyte species occurrence abundance; (2) describe distribution order indicate future sampling efforts. Our work presents first with information abundance...