Biogeography is an area of study dedicated to understanding the evolutionary processes that resul... more Biogeography is an area of study dedicated to understanding the evolutionary processes that resulted in current organismal distribution patterns. In general, exclusively terrestrial and exclusively aquatic vertebrates have well-studied and defined biogeographic patterns in the New World, but the biogeography of semiaquatic organisms is still poorly understood. In this chapter we discuss the biogeographic patterns and processes of New-World crocodylians. Although dispersal was probably an important process for the diversification of the ancestors of this group, the species/lineages—especially those of the South Americans—have their geographic distributions delimited by natural geographical barriers such as watershed divides, waterfalls and rapids, and captured watersheds, but also ecological specialization and competitive exclusions. The species/lineages occupying these areas show nearly identical divergence times, pointing to common historical processes that drove the evolution and divergence of these species/lineages. Recent studies have shown that widely distributed species have diversified into a significant number of independent evolutionary lineages. Knowing the biogeographic patterns of this group is of fundamental importance for conservation, since in the Anthropocene the effects of changes caused by man are devastating, destroying in a short period of time what nature took thousands/millions of years to build
The discovery and characterization of cryptic diversity is important for conservation and managem... more The discovery and characterization of cryptic diversity is important for conservation and management, especially for ichthyofauna, whose diversity is underestimated and understudied. Cryptic diversity is especially common in widely distributed species, and Pellona flavipinnis is one such species. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate and test whether P. flavipinnis harbours cryptic diversity. In this study we used the COI and control region sequences and microsatellite loci of 86–114 specimens from 11–12 locations throughout the Amazon basin, depending on the molecular marker used. We also included two COI GenBank sequences from the type locality of the species, the Paraná River. The results from COI sequences showed that P. flavipinnis from the Amazon basin presented two spatially structured lineages differentiated from P. flavipinnis from the Paraná River by 10.6%–9.8% (depending on the lineages) and 45 mutational steps. The genetic distance between the Amazon line...
As mudanças climáticas globais exercem diferentes efeitos negativos ao redor do mundo, e a seca e... more As mudanças climáticas globais exercem diferentes efeitos negativos ao redor do mundo, e a seca extrema de 2019-2021 observada no Pantanal parece derivar desses efeitos. Espécies aquáticas e semiaquáticas ocorrem em abundância no Pantanal, devido à grande oferta de ambientes sazonalmente inundáveis. O jacaré-do-pantanal, Caiman yacare, que na década de 1990 apresentou população estimada em cerca de 3 milhões de indivíduos, apresenta declínio populacional devido à escassez de água nos rios, lagos e açudes restantes. A espécie responde às secas, adotando estratégias de sobrevivência como a estivação na lama e no interior da floresta. Recomendamos três medidas gerais para a conservação do Pantanal como um todo e cinco ações específicas de manejo para minimizar os efeitos da seca nas populações de jacarés no Pantanal.
The Amazon forest has the highest biodiversity on Earth. However, information on Amazonian verteb... more The Amazon forest has the highest biodiversity on Earth. However, information on Amazonian vertebrate diversity is still deficient and scattered across the published, peer‐reviewed, and gray literature and in unpublished raw data. Camera traps are an effective non‐invasive method of surveying vertebrates, applicable to different scales of time and space. In this study, we organized and standardized camera trap records from different Amazon regions to compile the most extensive data set of inventories of mammal, bird, and reptile species ever assembled for the area. The complete data set comprises 154,123 records of 317 species (185 birds, 119 mammals, and 13 reptiles) gathered from surveys from the Amazonian portion of eight countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela). The most frequently recorded species per taxa were: mammals: Cuniculus paca (11,907 records); birds: Pauxi tuberosa (3713 records); and reptiles: Tupinambis teguixin (7...
Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 2021
Crocodilians represent one of the oldest extant vertebrate lineages. They have co‐existed with hu... more Crocodilians represent one of the oldest extant vertebrate lineages. They have co‐existed with humans throughout the Amazon basin for thousands of years, often having a strong cultural and economic influence on people's lives. Shifts in the socio‐economic and political reality of the Amazon basin during the last century have led crocodilian populations to face large variations in their numbers according to different levels of exploitation and strategies for their conservation. This article reviews the scientific knowledge obtained between 1945 and 2019 on the biology, conservation and management for the four Amazonian crocodilian (caiman) species (Caiman crocodilus, Melanosuchus niger, Paleosuchus palpebrosus and Paleosuchus trigonatus). It provides a general overview on past and current population status and research efforts involving caimans in the Amazon basin and discusses perspectives for the future. The most significant studies on the ecology, genetics and management strat...
Paleosuchus palpebrosus e um crocodiliano da subfamilia Caimaninae que se distribui amplamente na... more Paleosuchus palpebrosus e um crocodiliano da subfamilia Caimaninae que se distribui amplamente na regiao Neotropical. Possui comportamento relacionado a terra firme, e na Amazonia, concentra-se preferencialmente em rios de cabeceira, tributarios e em florestas alagaveis. No Pantanal, sua ocorrencia e restrita a regiao periferica, proximo a serras, nao sendo encontrado na planicie alagada do rio Paraguai. Estao geralmente associados a agua corrente, fria e limpa. Os conhecimentos sobre Paleosuchus palpebrosus sao muito escassos, o que pode dificultar acoes para sua conservacao. Assim, foram utilizadas sequencias do gene mitocondrial Citocromo b para determinar, pela primeira vez, o padrao de distribuicao da variabilidade genetica da especie e avaliar barreiras fisicas ou historicas ao fluxo genico entre suas populacoes, bem como investigar eventos demograficos historicos. Foi sequenciado o Citocromo b de 172 individuos de Paleosuchus palpebrosus em localidades ao longo dos rios Madei...
Biogeography is an area of study dedicated to understanding the evolutionary processes that resul... more Biogeography is an area of study dedicated to understanding the evolutionary processes that resulted in current organismal distribution patterns. In general, exclusively terrestrial and exclusively aquatic vertebrates have well-studied and defined biogeographic patterns in the New World, but the biogeography of semiaquatic organisms is still poorly understood. In this chapter we discuss the biogeographic patterns and processes of New-World crocodylians. Although dispersal was probably an important process for the diversification of the ancestors of this group, the species/lineages—especially those of the South Americans—have their geographic distributions delimited by natural geographical barriers such as watershed divides, waterfalls and rapids, and captured watersheds, but also ecological specialization and competitive exclusions. The species/lineages occupying these areas show nearly identical divergence times, pointing to common historical processes that drove the evolution and divergence of these species/lineages. Recent studies have shown that widely distributed species have diversified into a significant number of independent evolutionary lineages. Knowing the biogeographic patterns of this group is of fundamental importance for conservation, since in the Anthropocene the effects of changes caused by man are devastating, destroying in a short period of time what nature took thousands/millions of years to build
The discovery and characterization of cryptic diversity is important for conservation and managem... more The discovery and characterization of cryptic diversity is important for conservation and management, especially for ichthyofauna, whose diversity is underestimated and understudied. Cryptic diversity is especially common in widely distributed species, and Pellona flavipinnis is one such species. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate and test whether P. flavipinnis harbours cryptic diversity. In this study we used the COI and control region sequences and microsatellite loci of 86–114 specimens from 11–12 locations throughout the Amazon basin, depending on the molecular marker used. We also included two COI GenBank sequences from the type locality of the species, the Paraná River. The results from COI sequences showed that P. flavipinnis from the Amazon basin presented two spatially structured lineages differentiated from P. flavipinnis from the Paraná River by 10.6%–9.8% (depending on the lineages) and 45 mutational steps. The genetic distance between the Amazon line...
As mudanças climáticas globais exercem diferentes efeitos negativos ao redor do mundo, e a seca e... more As mudanças climáticas globais exercem diferentes efeitos negativos ao redor do mundo, e a seca extrema de 2019-2021 observada no Pantanal parece derivar desses efeitos. Espécies aquáticas e semiaquáticas ocorrem em abundância no Pantanal, devido à grande oferta de ambientes sazonalmente inundáveis. O jacaré-do-pantanal, Caiman yacare, que na década de 1990 apresentou população estimada em cerca de 3 milhões de indivíduos, apresenta declínio populacional devido à escassez de água nos rios, lagos e açudes restantes. A espécie responde às secas, adotando estratégias de sobrevivência como a estivação na lama e no interior da floresta. Recomendamos três medidas gerais para a conservação do Pantanal como um todo e cinco ações específicas de manejo para minimizar os efeitos da seca nas populações de jacarés no Pantanal.
The Amazon forest has the highest biodiversity on Earth. However, information on Amazonian verteb... more The Amazon forest has the highest biodiversity on Earth. However, information on Amazonian vertebrate diversity is still deficient and scattered across the published, peer‐reviewed, and gray literature and in unpublished raw data. Camera traps are an effective non‐invasive method of surveying vertebrates, applicable to different scales of time and space. In this study, we organized and standardized camera trap records from different Amazon regions to compile the most extensive data set of inventories of mammal, bird, and reptile species ever assembled for the area. The complete data set comprises 154,123 records of 317 species (185 birds, 119 mammals, and 13 reptiles) gathered from surveys from the Amazonian portion of eight countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela). The most frequently recorded species per taxa were: mammals: Cuniculus paca (11,907 records); birds: Pauxi tuberosa (3713 records); and reptiles: Tupinambis teguixin (7...
Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 2021
Crocodilians represent one of the oldest extant vertebrate lineages. They have co‐existed with hu... more Crocodilians represent one of the oldest extant vertebrate lineages. They have co‐existed with humans throughout the Amazon basin for thousands of years, often having a strong cultural and economic influence on people's lives. Shifts in the socio‐economic and political reality of the Amazon basin during the last century have led crocodilian populations to face large variations in their numbers according to different levels of exploitation and strategies for their conservation. This article reviews the scientific knowledge obtained between 1945 and 2019 on the biology, conservation and management for the four Amazonian crocodilian (caiman) species (Caiman crocodilus, Melanosuchus niger, Paleosuchus palpebrosus and Paleosuchus trigonatus). It provides a general overview on past and current population status and research efforts involving caimans in the Amazon basin and discusses perspectives for the future. The most significant studies on the ecology, genetics and management strat...
Paleosuchus palpebrosus e um crocodiliano da subfamilia Caimaninae que se distribui amplamente na... more Paleosuchus palpebrosus e um crocodiliano da subfamilia Caimaninae que se distribui amplamente na regiao Neotropical. Possui comportamento relacionado a terra firme, e na Amazonia, concentra-se preferencialmente em rios de cabeceira, tributarios e em florestas alagaveis. No Pantanal, sua ocorrencia e restrita a regiao periferica, proximo a serras, nao sendo encontrado na planicie alagada do rio Paraguai. Estao geralmente associados a agua corrente, fria e limpa. Os conhecimentos sobre Paleosuchus palpebrosus sao muito escassos, o que pode dificultar acoes para sua conservacao. Assim, foram utilizadas sequencias do gene mitocondrial Citocromo b para determinar, pela primeira vez, o padrao de distribuicao da variabilidade genetica da especie e avaliar barreiras fisicas ou historicas ao fluxo genico entre suas populacoes, bem como investigar eventos demograficos historicos. Foi sequenciado o Citocromo b de 172 individuos de Paleosuchus palpebrosus em localidades ao longo dos rios Madei...
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