What do Data from Fieldwork and Scientific Collections Tell us about Species Richness and Composition of Amphibians and Reptiles?

• DOI: 10.2994/sajh-d-16-00051.1
• Publication Date: 2017-08-31T08:11:52Z
• Authors: Fernando R. da Silva; Diogo B. Provete; Leyla K. Gerassi; Rafael P. Bovo
• Keywords: 0106 biological sciences; Neotropics; Field survey; 028; Biodiversity; 15. Life on land; 01 natural sciences; Herpetofauna; Squamata; Museum; 14. Life underwater; Anura

Abstract. Combining different sampling methods is essential to determine species richness. Recently, herpetological surveys have been conducted in poorly sampled regions in Brazil using data from scientific collections as complementary information for richness estimated from fieldwork. However, few studies have evaluated discrepancies between estimation of species richness obtained from fieldwork and scientific collections. Here, we demonstrate quantitatively how data available in scientific collections can be important complementary sources for assessing amphibian and reptile species richness. We used rarefaction and PERMANOVA to compare species richness and composition, respectively, of amphibians and reptiles from fieldwork carried out in southeastern Brazil with data from four of the most representative herpetological collections in the Sao Paulo state, southeastern Brazil. Our results showed no difference between amphibian species richness recorded in the field and scientific collections. In contrast...