Morfologia de girinos bentônicos e nectônicos e sua associação com características de ambientes de cerrado brasileiro

Abstract

The ecomorphology is an appropriate line of research for studies on species ecology. We analyzed the morphology of two species of benthic tadpoles (Hypsiboas albopunctatus and Physalaemus cuvieri) and two nektonic (Scinax fuscovarius and Scinax fuscomarginatus) using thirteen morphometric proportions that represent functional ecomorphological attributes. These attributes were analyzed using a principal component analysis, which showed the difference between the trophic guilds; they were also correlated with environmental traits from the ponds were these tadpoles were collected by a redundancy analysis. The principal components analysis revealed that the size of the fins and body shape influenced the differentiation of two guilds, corroborating previous studies. The erect herbaceous vegetation, the gully margin and the muddy substrate of the water body were associated with morphological variations of these tadpoles.