Papers by Marcos R Severgnini
Journal of Mammalian Evolution, 2023
The evolution of the bat skull has been extensively studied at broad spatial scales. While ecomor... more The evolution of the bat skull has been extensively studied at broad spatial scales. While ecomorphological partitioning of niches has been extensively analyzed in macroevolutionary studies, little is known about the interaction of wild phenotypes with novel ecological pressures to determine species co-occurrence. Here, we tested the influence of size, trophic guild, and foraging behavior on the cranium and mandible shapes of 32 co-occurring bat species. We used 2D geometric morphometrics and phylogenetic comparative methods for multivariate data to test the effects of foraging behavior, trophic guild, and size on the shape of cranium and mandible. We also tested for phylogenetic signal on the shape and size of cranium and mandible. Our results show that closely-related species were clustered together in the morphospace. Cranium allometry followed a common trajectory, probably related to olfactory-visual senses, and not trophic guild and foraging behavior. However, mandible allometry followed a unique trajectory for each group, suggesting differential pressures related to trophic guild and foraging behavior. Coexistence among frugivore stenodermatines is apparently achieved because they partition ecological niches by varying cranium and mandible size rather than their shapes. These findings suggest a convergence in cranium and mandible shapes for insectivorous bats, which may be related to the hardness of food resources.
European Journal of Taxonomy , 2022
Using an integrative approach (morphology of the adult and larvae, bioacoustics, osteology, karyo... more Using an integrative approach (morphology of the adult and larvae, bioacoustics, osteology, karyotype, and molecular data), we described a new tetraploid species of Odontophrynus to the Mantiqueira mountain range, in southeastern Brazil. The data suggest that Odontophrynus toledoi sp. nov., O. juquinha and Odontophrynus sp. (aff. juquinha) comprise a clade with specimens distributed along three distinct mountain ranges in Brazil: Mantiqueira (O. toledoi sp. nov.) and Espinhaço (O. juquinha) mountains, both in southeastern Brazil, and Diamantina Plateau (O. aff. juquinha), in northeastern Brazil. The new species is morphologically similar and closely related to O. juquinha, but is distinguished in morphology (both adult and larval), karyotype (O. toledoi sp. nov. is tetraploid and O. juquinha is diploid), and corroborated by phylogenetic inferences. We also show that these species do not exchange haplotypes in the 16s gene. Furthermore, although the raw acoustic parameters of Odontophrynus toledoi sp. nov. and O. juquinha overlap at the limits of their ranges, we found a clear difference in the acoustic space structure.
Journal of Natural History, 2022
We monitored a recently discovered population of Paratelmatobius
mantiqueira for 13 months and ga... more We monitored a recently discovered population of Paratelmatobius
mantiqueira for 13 months and gathered new data for the species:
external morphology of tadpoles, acoustic repertoire, and life his-
tory traits. We also collected unprecedented data on behaviours
and interactions of adults and tadpoles observed during monitor-
ing. Based on natural markings of P. mantiqueira adults, we esti-
mated the effective population size and estimated their home
range. With circular statistics, we tested whether they were season-
ally active and evaluated how humidity and temperature influenced
the detectability of the species. We found that tadpoles and adver-
tisement calls of P. mantiqueira differed from congeneric species.
We also described the release and aggressive calls. We found that
the species has a small home range, with probable resident females.
Temperature and humidity positively influenced the detectability of
P. mantiqueira; encounters varied seasonally. Paratelmatobius man-
tiqueira is a strictly forest species, found mainly in leaf litter and
associated with muddy areas in rocky outcrops of highland forests.
Our study provides new data about P. mantiqueira, which may help
future integrative taxonomy approaches and contribute to the
conservation of this species.
Boas práticas na análise de séries temporais em Herpetologia, 2020
Na maioria dos casos em que temos uma série temporal para estudos herpetológicos (e.g., abundânci... more Na maioria dos casos em que temos uma série temporal para estudos herpetológicos (e.g., abundância ou riqueza ao longo dos anos), precisamos saber se a distribuição dos nossos dados apresenta padrões sazonais ou ocorrem ao acaso. Essa informação permite visualizar melhor a ocorrência das espécies em função de variáveis abióticas que possuem correlação temporal (e.g., umidade, fotoperíodo, precipitação, temperatura). Material referente a publicação: Boas práticas na análise de séries temporais em Herpetologia | Herpetologia Brasileira, vol. 9 n°. 3. p. 72-85
Herpetologia Brasileira, vol. 9 n°. 3. p. 72-85, 2020
O tempo pode ser considerado um recurso, assim como um eixo do nicho (Post, 2019). Enquanto recur... more O tempo pode ser considerado um recurso, assim como um eixo do nicho (Post, 2019). Enquanto recurso, ele influencia a distribuição das espécies, já que a escolha de quando se reproduzir é crucial para o desempenho (fitness, Cayuela et al., 2014). Os processos envolvidos na mudança na abundância das espécies dependem da extensão espacial e temporal dos dados. Diferenças na abundância ou atividade das espécies ao longo do tempo podem gerar efeitos de prioridade e outros tipos de processos dependentes do tempo que afetam o resultado das interações entre as espécies. As regras de montagem das comunidades podem ser uma consequência de tais eventos de curto prazo, na medida em que a ordem de chegada das espécies nas comunidades influencia a estrutura da comunidade. Outras regras de montagem podem não ter uma dependência temporal explícita, mas refletir diferenças na capacidade competitiva, diferenças na resistência à predação ou tendências das espécies de ocorrerem em comunidades diferentes (Morin, 2011). Apesar dos processos temporais serem importantes na ecologia, eles têm sido menos explorados do que os espaciais (Magurran, 2011), pois demandam maior esforço amostral por um longo período de tempo, o que torna essa abordagem limitada.
Herpetology Notes, volume 13: 7-10, 2020
Anais do III Encontro Regional de Ensino de Biologia (EREBIO) - Regional 1, 2017
Por meio do embasamento teórico de Carvalho e Gil-Pérez, e considerando os desafios à formação de... more Por meio do embasamento teórico de Carvalho e Gil-Pérez, e considerando os desafios à formação de professores de ciências, este trabalho busca compreender o que docentes de ciências de escolas públicas e privadas de Campo Grande/MS, acreditam ser necessário para o ensino e aprendizagem sob o ponto de vista da práxis. O trabalhado caracteriza-se com abordagem qualitativa de caráter descritivo. Nove professores responderam questionários voluntariamente. As discussões permitiram avaliação crítica quanto à prática docente. Notou-se que muitas dos apontamentos realizados pelos autores de referência estão presentes nas observações dos professores questionados, entretanto outros pontos ainda precisam de maior atenção, de modo que formações continuadas ainda continuam sendo um caminho possível.
Palavras-chave: Trabalho docente, Formação dos docentes, Ensino de ciências.
Conference Presentations by Marcos R Severgnini
XXIII Congreso Argentino de Herpetología, 2023
Ecological Society of America (ESA) | Annual Meeting 2023, Portland, 2023
Urban ecosystems are good testbeds to study eco-evolutionary dynamics because they alter the pace... more Urban ecosystems are good testbeds to study eco-evolutionary dynamics because they alter the pace of evolution of natural populations. Urbanization promotes habitat fragmentation and isolation, reduces gene flow, and creates small populations more prone to genetic drift. Consequently, maladapted phenotypes may be fixed, decreasing fitness. However, the effects of urbanization on species with low dispersal ability are expected to be more pronounced. Yet, little is known about eco-evolutionary responses of organisms with low dispersal ability to urbanization, especially in the Global South. Here, we tested how urbanization affects phenotypic traits associated with dispersal and performance (i.e., body size and leg length) in a treefrog (Dendropsophus nanus) using a space-for-time substitution approach. We tested for spatial autocorrelation in traits and estimated the adaptive landscape of leg length using body condition index as a fitness proxy. We sampled 767 male frogs in 21 ponds along an urbanization gradient and measured snout-vent length, length of tight, tibia, and foot with a digital calliper; and body mass with a hand Pesola (to the nearest 0.1 g) to calculate the Scaled Mass Index. We also calculated urbanization rate for each pond using satellite images showing land cover change from 1985 to 2019 in a 1-Km buffer. Our results shows that mean body size and leg length do not change consistently along the urbanization gradient. However, the variance in less urbanized is greater than in more urbanized sites. Additionally, there is no clear, linear spatial pattern in either body size or leg length. Moreover, fitness was slightly enhanced when body size was bigger, suggesting it might be under directional selection. Urban evolutionary dynamics is a burgeoning field, and more effort is needed to understand how cities affect the evolutionary trajectories of species, especially in the Global South. In conclusion, our study suggests a different pattern in phenotypic responses to urbanization for frogs in a city in the Global South, which contrasts with recent studies in the Global North that detected significant phenotypic changes between rural and urban frog populations. Our results can contribute to building urban ecological theory that explicitly includes city age, their development, growth rate, and history. Furthermore, changes associated with urbanization can affect populations in different ways in tropical environments, due to their climate conditions, eliciting different strategies in animals compared to temperate environments.
Integra, 2024
O objetivo principal do estudo foi testar como a frequência mínima, frequência máxima, frequência... more O objetivo principal do estudo foi testar como a frequência mínima, frequência máxima, frequência dominante, duração e taxa de canto variam entre áreas urbanas e rurais. O estudo foi realizado no perímetro rural e urbano de Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul. Amostramos 2 poças em áreas urbanas e 2 em áreas rurais. Gravamos 20 indivíduos anuros machos por 5 minutos à 1 m de distância. Para avaliar os parâmetros temporais e espectrais do canto, selecionamos 10 cantos dentro dos 5 minutos de gravação para cada indivíduo em cada local. Para medir os parâmetros do canto usamos o Raven Pro 1.6. Utilizamos um regressão entre a frequência dominante e o tamanho do corpo e utilizamos os resíduos para obter a frequência sem efeito do tamanho. Utilizamos um modelo linear de efeito misto para testar se há diferença nos parâmetros temporais e espectrais do canto em função das áreas rural e urbana, incluindo o indivíduo como fator aleatório para controlar a variação interindividual. As análises foram realizadas no R software. Vários estudos anteriores com anuros encontraram maior frequência dominante em áreas urbanas. Entretanto, alguns estudos também encontraram outras variações ou nenhuma alteração. Uma possível explicação é a idade da cidade, fazendo com que não haja muita diferença no nível de poluição sonora e luminosa entre áreas rurais e urbanas. Contudo, entender como diferentes espécies estão lidando com fatores associados à urbanização é importante para proteger a biodiversidade e traçar estratégias que mitiguem o impacto da urbanização, já que esse é um fenômeno que se tornará mais intenso no futuro no mundo.
I Simpósio de Morfologia Comparada de Vertebrados (SIMORF), 2021
The environment-phenotype interaction is a key aspect to understand how morphological patterns ar... more The environment-phenotype interaction is a key aspect to understand how morphological patterns arise and are maintained in nature. Tadpoles of the genus Melanophryniscus are a good model to study this aspect, since they occupy three distinct habitats: ponds, streams, and bromeliad. Interestingly, their body shape is very similar regardless of the habitat. Here, we tested if tadpoles of 17 species of Melanophryniscus that occupy different habitats have a distinct body shape using Phylogenetic Generalized Least Squares (PGLS). We used geometric morphometrics placing 15 landmarks on pictures of lateral and 10 on dorsal view. To test if the difference in body shape is generated by a distinct rate of evolution in each habitat, we used a method that estimates and tests for differences in rates under Brownian Motion. Furthermore, we tested if phylogenetically related species have similar body shapes using phylogenetic signal. To visualize the data, we built a phylomorphospace. Stream-dwelling, pond-dwelling tadpoles, and bromeliad-dwelling tadpoles occupied different regions of the morphospace in both views (lateral and dorsal) regardless of the phylogenetic relationship. The rate of body shape evolution in lateral and dorsal views in pond-dwelling tadpoles (1.1 x 10-3 and 2.3 x 10-3, respectively) was higher than that of stream-dwelling tadpoles (7.1 x 10-4; 1.7 x 10-3) and bromeliad-dwelling tadpoles (1.7 x 10-4; 2.6 x 10-4). However, the differences in rates of evolution among habitats in both views were not significant. Phylogenetically related species did not have similar body shape in either views. However, body shape was influenced by the environment. Taken together, these results suggest that adaptive processes acted specifically to change body shape, regardless of the phylogenetic relationship between species.
9th Brazilian Congress of Herpetology, 2019
Adult amphibians and their larvae occur in a wide range of habitats, from tree hollows, streams t... more Adult amphibians and their larvae occur in a wide range of habitats, from tree hollows, streams to permanent ponds. Extant amphibians (Lissamphibia) evolved from ancestors that inhabited lentic environments. However, some derived lineages (Neobatrachia) invaded lotic environments. This adaptive radiation to occupy lotic environments within Neobatrachia may have promoted an acceleration of body shape diversification to cope with a new hydrodynamics and hydroperiod. Here, we tested whether the rate of body shape evolution varies between ponds and streams using the multivariate Brownian Motion model. We also estimated the macroevolutionary adaptive landscape of tadpole body shape. We used geometric morphometrics along with phylogenetic comparative methods for multivariate data to measure the larval shape of 54 species from 11 families. We used an average of 10 individuals of each species between Gosner stages 34-40. We use a consensus of Jetz & Pyron 2018 phylogeny. Stream-dwelling species had a higher rate of evolution than those occurring in ponds, but this difference was not significant. However, there was a wide variation in the rates of evolution within lineages that occur in each environment. We found three adaptive peaks, two of them containing species exclusive of stream or pond, and a third ancestral regime shared by most species. In this regime, there is a wide variety of shapes and habitats, which makes the adaptive landscape difficult to interpret. Increased rates of evolution in stream tadpoles suggest greater morphological diversification in these environments due to higher selective pressures. However, the heterogeneity of evolutionary rates within lineages indicates that body shape appears to be influenced by factors other than the environment.
Uploads
Papers by Marcos R Severgnini
mantiqueira for 13 months and gathered new data for the species:
external morphology of tadpoles, acoustic repertoire, and life his-
tory traits. We also collected unprecedented data on behaviours
and interactions of adults and tadpoles observed during monitor-
ing. Based on natural markings of P. mantiqueira adults, we esti-
mated the effective population size and estimated their home
range. With circular statistics, we tested whether they were season-
ally active and evaluated how humidity and temperature influenced
the detectability of the species. We found that tadpoles and adver-
tisement calls of P. mantiqueira differed from congeneric species.
We also described the release and aggressive calls. We found that
the species has a small home range, with probable resident females.
Temperature and humidity positively influenced the detectability of
P. mantiqueira; encounters varied seasonally. Paratelmatobius man-
tiqueira is a strictly forest species, found mainly in leaf litter and
associated with muddy areas in rocky outcrops of highland forests.
Our study provides new data about P. mantiqueira, which may help
future integrative taxonomy approaches and contribute to the
conservation of this species.
Palavras-chave: Trabalho docente, Formação dos docentes, Ensino de ciências.
Conference Presentations by Marcos R Severgnini
mantiqueira for 13 months and gathered new data for the species:
external morphology of tadpoles, acoustic repertoire, and life his-
tory traits. We also collected unprecedented data on behaviours
and interactions of adults and tadpoles observed during monitor-
ing. Based on natural markings of P. mantiqueira adults, we esti-
mated the effective population size and estimated their home
range. With circular statistics, we tested whether they were season-
ally active and evaluated how humidity and temperature influenced
the detectability of the species. We found that tadpoles and adver-
tisement calls of P. mantiqueira differed from congeneric species.
We also described the release and aggressive calls. We found that
the species has a small home range, with probable resident females.
Temperature and humidity positively influenced the detectability of
P. mantiqueira; encounters varied seasonally. Paratelmatobius man-
tiqueira is a strictly forest species, found mainly in leaf litter and
associated with muddy areas in rocky outcrops of highland forests.
Our study provides new data about P. mantiqueira, which may help
future integrative taxonomy approaches and contribute to the
conservation of this species.
Palavras-chave: Trabalho docente, Formação dos docentes, Ensino de ciências.