Fatores determinantes da diversidade funcional e sua potencial associação com a diversidade da forma do corpo em comunidades de anuros

Abstract

Functional diversity is a very useful tool for understanding ecological processes. In this context, in the first chapter, we quantified and explored the current state of research on the functional diversity of terrestrial vertebrates. Based on the review of 490 articles, we observed an increase in the number of publications on the topic over time, particularly in the Palearctic, Nearctic, and Neotropical regions. There was a predominance of studies focused on birds across all biogeographic regions, while amphibians, reptiles, and mammals had significantly lower scientific output. Regarding functional traits, the most commonly used type was ecological, with the feeding category being the most frequently applied in studies. Among the functional diversity indices identified, functional richness (FRic), functional evenness (FEve), functional dispersion (FDis), and functional divergence (FDiv) were the most frequent. Our findings highlight the need for greater investment in research with a functional focus on terrestrial vertebrates, especially amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. In the second chapter, we quantified the functional diversity of anurans based on classic ecological traits (morphological, reproductive, and habitat use) and analyzed how climatic factors, historical processes, and anthropogenic disturbances (forest fragmentation) have affected the patterns of functional diversity of anurans in the Atlantic Forest, in northeastern Brazil. We showed that the functional divergence (FDiv) of anurans in the Atlantic Forest is influenced by historical environmental instability and the shape (circularity) of forest remnants. Additionally, functional evenness (FEve) was associated with climatic conditions (mean annual precipitation). However, functional richness (FRic) showed no apparent association with the predictors used. This study contributes to the understanding of the forces driving functional diversity, providing useful results to support effective conservation actions for anurans in the Atlantic Forest. Finally, in the third chapter, we investigated the degree of association between four diversity measures in anuran communities: functional diversity (FD), 3D morphological diversity (MD), phylogenetic diversity (PD), and climatic niche diversity (CND). Additionally, we evaluated the hypothesis that MD could serve as an efficient proxy for FD. We tested for phylogenetic signal in the phenotypic traits (classic and 3D shape) and climatic niches of anuran species and conducted simulations to assemble random anuran communities to quantify the association between FD, PD, MD and CND. The phylogenetic signals of functional, 3D morphological traits, and climatic niches of anuran species in the communities ranged from low to intermediate values. We observed a small increase in FD and MD values, while CND showed a clear growth with the inclusion of more species in the communities. On the other hand, PD did not show a significant increase with the larger number of species. We demonstrate for the first time that MD of phylogenetically close groups is more strongly correlated with FD than with CND or PD. Our results provide empirical evidence highlighting the potential of morphometric data in understanding functional diversity in communities. We also emphasize the importance of Biological Collection Museums as fundamental repositories for the preservation and study of functional diversity.