Rapid Inventory of Herpetofauna at the APA (Environmental Protection Area) of the Lagoa Encantada and Rio Almada, Southern Bahia, Brazil
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Herpetology Notes, volume 7: 627-637 (2014) (published online on 12 November 2014) Rapid inventory of herpetofauna at the APA (Environmental Protection Area) of the Lagoa Encantada and Rio Almada, Southern Bahia, Brazil Iuri Ribeiro Dias1*, Caio Vinicius de Mira-Mendes1 and Mirco Solé1 Abstract. Southern Bahia has one of the largest remnants of Atlantic Forest in northeastern Brazil, sheltering high levels of species richness and endemisms. In the present study, we report the results of a rapid inventory comprehending 12 days of samplings at the APA of the Lagoa Encantada and Rio Almada. We recorded 76 species belonging to the herpetofauna, being 59 anurans and 17 reptiles. This high species richness recorded in just a few days reveals the biological importance of this area, and probably a larger effort would lead to recording more species. Keywords. Atlantic Forest, conservation, endemism, Anura, Squamata Introduction richness and endemism (Haffer, 1974; Mori et al., 1981; Brown, 1991; Martini et al., 2007). Amphibians and reptiles are among the most According to Carnaval et al. (2009), the southern endangered groups of animals worldwide. The main Bahia region acted as a bioclimatic refugium during cause of their decline is associated to the loss and the last glaciation, playing an important role regarding fragmentation of the environment, especially in the the diversification of amphibian species. However, the Neotropics (Gibbons et al., 2000; Young et al., 2004; herpetofauna of the region is poorly known and new Stuart et al., 2004; Todd et al., 2009). species of amphibians and reptiles are still frequently The APA (Environmental Protection Area) of Lagoa described from this region (Recoder et al., 2010; Napoli Encantada, located in the municipality of Ilhéus, Bahia et al., 2011; Curcio et al., 2012; Lourenço-de-Moraes state, was established in June 14, 1993 (Bahia, 1993), et al., 2012; Caramaschi et al., 2013; Teixeira Jr. et al., with the main goal to protect the environmental heritage. 2013; Rodrigues et al., 2013). In 2003, the environmental protection area was renamed In this study we present a rapid inventory of the APA of Lagoa Encantada and Rio Almada, covering herpetofauna of four different sites located inside the the cities of Ilhéus, Uruçuca, Itajuípe, Coaraci and “APA of Lagoa Encantada and Rio Almada”. Almadina, with an estimated total area of 157,745 ha, represented by remnants of the Atlantic Forest (Bahia, Methodology 2003). This region shelters one of the largest remnants of Atlantic Forest in northeastern Brazil (Araújo et al., The present inventory was undertaken in the region 1998), and is characterized by a high level of species of the watershed of the Almada River and the APA (Environmental Protection Area) of the Lagoa Encantada and Rio Almada, within the Central Corridor of the Atlantic Forest - a biodiversisty hotspot in southern Bahia state, northeast Brazil. 1 Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Departamento de Field work was done in four different areas, represented Ciências Biológicas, Rodovia Ilhéus-Itabuna, km 16, by three points in each area (Figure 1; Table 1). The 45662-000 Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil selected areas were: Serra dos Sete Paus at the boundary * Corresponding author e-mail: [email protected] of the municipalities of Floresta Azul and Almadina; 628 Iuri Ribeiro Dias et al. Figure 1. Map showing the limits of the APA of the Lagoa Encantada and Rio Almada, Bahia State, Northeastern Brazil and sampling points. Green spots are forest remnants of the Atlantic Forest in the region. Serra do Corcovado in Almadina municipality; Lagoa area, where the predominant vegetation type was the Encantada and Serra da Temerosa both in Ilhéus Tropical Lowland Rainforest. In general, the sampled municipality . forest fragments were located in hilly environments The main forest types found during the study were (except the points of Lagoa Encantada area, located in the Tropical Montane Rainforest and the Tropical lowlands), in a good conservation condition and usually Submontane Rainforest, except in the Lagoa Encantada surrounded by cocoa plantations and / or pasture. The points sampled in the Lagoa Encantada area were located between two protected areas, the Parque Estadual da Serra do Conduru and the Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN) Salto Apepique. Table 1. Geographical coordinates in decimal degrees According to Köppen (1936), the climate of the region (Datum = WGS84) of the sampled points inside the APA is Af (Tropical rainforest climate), characterized as hot Lagoa Encantada and Rio Almada. and humid without a defined dry season. The mean monthly temperature ranges from 19.3-29ºC with an Sites Latitude Longitude Elevation -14.753981º -39.691841º 676 m annual average around 23.2ºC, the relative humidity Serra do Sete Paus -14.762575º -39.649557º 482 m varies from 82.2-87.4% and precipitation is 1722 mm -14.777635º -39.614061º 502 m annually (Mendonça et al., 1996). -14.700045º -39.610872º 534 m Fieldwork was carried out between 11 and 22 February Serra do Corcovado -14.700156º -39.596010º 712 m -14.698954º -39.602816º 881 m 2011. Each area was sampled during three consecutive -14.473733º -39.447763º 509 m days (16:00h – 00:00h) by two researchers, each point Serra da Temerosa -14.487317º -39.450760º 559 m being sampled only once. As the aim was to make a -14.475027º -39.437438º 415 m -14.563973º -39.105011º 101 m rapid inventory, we used visual surveys (Fitch 1987) Lagoa Encantada -14.534158º -39.115587º 112 m in order to maximize sampling effort. For anurans we -14.582963º -39.117962º 94 m also used the method of visual and acoustic encounter Rapid inventory of herpetofauna at environmental protection areas in Brazil 629 surveys (Rödel and Ernst, 2004) and accidental sightings APA of Lagoa Encantada and Rio Almada, points can (species found during displacement between sampling be located up to 50 km away from each other, covering points). We used trails within the forest fragments, both lowland areas as hilly environments, which gives where we inspected every potential microenvironment the study area a structural, climatic and geological for the occurrence of amphibians and reptiles (e.g. leaf heterogeneity. litter, under trunks, rocks, bromeliads, streams). We also Most studies published from southern Bahia were inspected the permanent and temporary ponds located made with a sampling effort of a few days in the field at the study site. Species were identified in the field and and still recorded a high richness (Table 3). However, photographed, when possible. the region still lacks systematic long-term studies The rarefaction curve for amphibians was generated which would allow a better understanding of the local based on the Mao Tau estimator (after 1000 amphibian and reptile diversity, especially for the group randomizations) (Colwell and Coddington, 1994). For of reptiles (Table 3) for which only one long-term study the extrapolation of species richness, five different (12 years) addressing the snakes of the cocoa region of estimators were used: Jacknife 1, Chao 1, ACE, ICE southern Bahia (Argôlo, 2004) has been performed until and Bootstrap. Each sampling day was considered as today. In this study, we made a rapid inventory lasting a sampling unit. The program EstimateS 9.1 (Cowell, 12 days, and probably a larger effort would lead to the 2013) was used for the calculations. record of more species at this region and probably to the discovery of species new to science. Results and Discussion The amphibian species found can be considered as During the period of the study we recorded 76 species typical of the Atlantic forest, with 75% of the species belonging to the herpetofauna, being 59 anurans and being endemic of this domain, and six species endemic 17 reptiles (Table 2; Figure 2, 3 and 4). The number of Bahia (Haddad et al., 2013; Table 2). In this study, of recorded species is very high, considering that only 48% of the anuran species were found only in forest 12 days were spent to sample the study area. According environments. to IUCN (2013), 36 of the recorded anuran species are not threatened (LC), 9 are listed as data deficient (DD) and the conservation status of twelve have not been classified yet. Allobates olfersioides is considered vulnerable to extinction and Aplastodiscus cf. weygoldi is classified as near threatened by the IUCN. Of the 17 reptile species, only two have been evaluated by IUCN (Salvator merianae and Tropidurus torquatus), which are classified as not threatened (LC). The rarefaction curve for amphibian species indicated a slight tendency towards stabilization from the ninth day of sampling, being that only two species were added towards the end of samplings (Figure 5). Although the sampling effort employed in the study area was relatively small, it was possible to record a considerable number of species, between 90-96% of the species richness indicated by the estimators (Jacknife 1 = 65.4; Bootstrap = 62.8; ICE = 62.6; ACE = 61.9; Chao 1 = 61.1 species), revealing that sampling was qualitatively satisfactory during the study period. Compared with other studies from the southern Bahia region, the APA of the Lagoa Encantada and Rio Almada Figure 5. Rarefaction curve of observed species richness of shows a high herpetofauna species richness (59 anurans anuran amphibians sampled in from APA Lagoa Encantada and 17 reptiles) (Table 3). The high species richness and Rio Almada, based on the number of sampling days. can be attributed to the large extent of the study area. Dashed lines denote the threshold of the 95% confidence Although the sampling sites are all located within the intervals. 630 Iuri Ribeiro Dias et al. Table 2. List of sampled amphibians and reptiles from APA Lagoa Encantada and Rio Almada. Legend: A1 = Serra dos Sete Paus; A2 = Serra do Corcovado; A3 = Lagoa Encantada; A4 = Serra da Temerosa; # Endemic of biome Atlantic Rain Forest; † = endemic of Atlantic Rain Forest in state of Bahia; * = only acoustic record.