Chec List Checklist of Amphibians in a Rice Paddy Area In
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Check List 10(5): 1014–1019, 2014 © 2014 Check List and Authors Chec List ISSN 1809-127X (available at www.checklist.org.br) Journal of species lists and distribution Checklist of amphibians in a rice paddy area in the PECIES S OF 1* 1 1 ISTS Leonardo Felipe Bairos Moreira and Leonardo Maltchik L Uruguayan savanna, southern Brazil , Débora Schuck Knauth 1 Universidade do Vale do Rio [email protected] Sinos – UNISINOS, Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação de Ecossistemas Aquáticos, Av. Unisinos, 950, CEP 93022–000, São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil. * Corresponding author. E-mail: Abstract: With the objective of contributing to conservation strategies for areas outside conservation areas, we present an inventory of the amphibians occurring in rice fields with different types of management (conventional and organic), in Sentinela do Sul, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, a grassland area in the Uruguayan savanna ecoregion. Between August 2010 and April 2011, we collected tadpoles in rice fields and natural ponds. We recorded 14 species of six families, and only anuraneight of speciesthese species composition. occurred Since in rice few fields. areas Speciesof Uruguayan composition savanna differed lie within between conservation organic units,and conventional it is paramount fields. to developHabitat conservationfeatures (time measures of flooding, that presence help maintain of fish, biodiversity presence of in vegetation) agroecosystems. may act synergistically with agrochemical effects on DOI: 10.15560/10.5.1014 Introduction Grande do Sul are concentrated in this region in southern Small wetlands have become one of the main priorities Rio Grande do Sul (Maltchik et al. 2003). of conservation agendas because they support high The objective of this study was to contribute to the development of conservation strategies for areas not et al. protected by conservation units. We surveyed amphibians 2002).aquatic Habitat diversity loss and associated are in decline with agriculturalthroughout expansionthe world, isdue probably to expansion the principal of the human cause ofpopulation natural wetland (Amezaga declines (conventional and organic) in the Uruguayan savanna ecoregion,in rice fields and wewith also differentsampled naturalmanagement ponds nearregimes the have been considered important wetland substitutes, and agricultural matrix to determine which species are actually (Czech and Parsons 2002). Managed by man, rice fields using the agricultural areas. We studied tadpoles instead foraging and reproduction (Duré et al. of adults to determine species presence, since some many organisms use etthese al. 2010). cultivated Nevertheless, fields as theareas use for of characteristics make these individuals good models for 2008; Machado and onMaltchik management 2010; Piatti practices, such as use of agrochemicals orrice organic fields as cultivation, substitutes irrigationfor natural water wetlands origin, may and depend off- thanfield adults)inventories (Andrade and aquatic et al. 2007). monitoring studies (general et al. 2010). abundance and longer permanence in the aquatic habitats Materials and Methods inseason South use America, of crop areaand the(Donald state 2004; of Rio Kato Grande do Sul The study took place in Sentinela do Sul (Figure 1), in Currently, Brazil is an important area for rice production the central-west portion of the coastal plain of Rio Grande agroecosystemsaccounts for 67.5% is important of rice productionbecause conservation in Brazil (IBGE units 2012). Information about the biota associated with these climatedo Sul (30°42′00″ of this region to 30°45′09″ is subtropical, S; 51°37′52″ moderately to 51°41′58″ humid, Most of the currently documented amphibian species andW), theover temperature one complete varies rice between field cycle 11°C (2010-2011). in the winter Theand cover only 3.4% of total area of the state (SCP 2011). 26°C in the summer, with an average annual temperature (Segalla et al. 2012). These new species descriptions, which havein Brazil occurred have atbeen regular discovered rates, are over a strong the last indication forty years that mm/year (Maluf 2000). of 18.5°C. Annual precipitation varies from 1500 to 1700 inventories directly assess the diversity of an area over to management type (organic and conventional). athe short Brazilian amount amphibian of time. fauna This isdata poorly could known. be critically Species The rice fields were divided into two types according important to conservation policies created for natural and managed areas (Silveira et al. 2010). Amphibian richness organophosphorusAgrochemicals are notand applied carbamate to organic insecticides, fields, while and in glyphosate-basedthe conventionally herbicides managed application fields, inorganic is concentrated fertilizers, in higher,in Rio Grande especially do Sul in represents the Uruguayan approximately savanna 10%ecoregion, of the inspecies the southern registered portion in Brazil, of and the this state richness (Borges-Martins could be even et the early rice growing period. The flood regime is rotated al. 2007). Most of the wetlands and rice paddies of Rio lastin organic approximately fields to 2eliminate weeks, based arthropod on water pests availability and weeds in and keep the soil fertile. Cycles of flooding and dry downs 1014 Moreira et al. | Amphibians in rice fields, southern Brazil Figure 1. Study area and habitats sampled: (A) map showing the location of study area (black square) in the central-west coastal plains of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil; (B) natural pond; (C) conventional rice field; (D): organic rice field. landscape around crop edges (Figure 1), which have 2010), early growing (January 2011), and late growing relativelythe region. more Organic native crops vegetation also support than conventional a heterogeneous crops. (Aprilcycle: off-season2011). The (August off-season 2010), period soil preparation occurred when (October the The rice plantations in the study site were divided into various 1 ha plots that are interconnected by drainage irrigation canals and scattered ephemeral plots. During land is fallow, and the fields retained water only in the range of practices, such as plowing to incorporate stubble Watercanals leveland secondary in the drainage roads. canalsThe canals is controlled (2–5 m wideby weirs and anddry aeratefield conditions, the soil, harrowing soil preparation and leveling includes to break a wide and that0.5–1.5 supply m deep) the arerice filled plots with (~10 water cm fromwater nearby per 130 streams. days) puddle clods of soil and incorporate organic matters into during the cultivation cycle. We sampled four study plots (1 ha) in each of the two by rice emergence (seedlings < 10 cm tall) and a shallow cultivation methods within a 10 km radius. We avoided watersoil thoroughly. level, while The the early rice growing was > 100period cm is tall characterized and water using plots near other types of vegetation because we were depth was increased to protect plants during the late growing period. specifically interested in the species that use rice fields. typicallyIt was not bordered possible by to a selectstrip of fields vegetation. surrounded We sampled by similar four collectedOn each by samplingkicking up occasion, the substrate tadpoles and werethen sweepingcollected naturalhabitat inponds the organicto determine fields whichbecause species fields use in theagricultural area are abovewith a thedip disturbednet (0.4 × area.0.3 m; Three 0.5 mm).random The sweeps samples of were 2 m areas. The mean water depth is approximately 40 cm in the water volume of the ponds is greatly reduced. The each were performed in each rice study plot (rice field vegetationsampled natural around ponds; the ponds however, is composed during dryof a summers,mosaic of or pond). Collected tadpoles were anesthetized with semideciduous forest and steppe (Cordeiro and Hasenack thebenzocaine herpetological and fixed collection in 10% formalinof the Museu (collecting de Ciências permit – SISBIO # 24082-2). Voucher specimens are housed in 2009).Sampling The study occurred plots four were times at during least the600 rice m cultivationfrom one e Tecnologia da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio another to minimize spatial autocorrelation. Grande do Sul (MCP12570-12579), Brazil. We performed an ANOVA using permutation analysis1015 Moreira et al. | Amphibians in rice fields, southern Brazil to test for differences in tadpole richness and abundance in more than one ecoregion, such as Atlantic coast restingas, Cerrado, and Uruguayan savanna (Maneyro and Carreira et al. 2013). Despite the low sampling effort, between natural ponds and rice fields. ANOVA permutation amphibian richness in our study is comparable with other analyses were performed with the package lmPerm rice2012; paddies Haddad in South America (Table 2). Such results could Results(Wheler 2010) in R.15.1 (R Development Core Team 2012). be attributed to the idea that only generalist species are We found eleven anuran species of the following et al. et al. 2010). Amphibians that depend on able to remain in areas converted to rice fields (Doody Leptodactylusfamilies: Bufonidae fuscus group(1), Hylidae were assigned(4), Leptodactylidae to the same be 2006;exposed Piatti to high levels of agrochemicals, which could (5),taxon. and Anuran Odontophrynidae richness and (1) abundance (Table 1). differed Tadpoles between of the ponds within or surrounded by agriculturalet fields al. may = directly or indirectly affect biota (Peltzer