Alessandro Morais

• PhD
• Researcher at Instituto Federal Goiano

Social media posts can enhance public understanding of biodiversity by promoting species discovery and raising awareness of its importance. Here, we evaluated the representativeness of amphibian and reptile species published on Instagram profiles and discussed the role of social media in publicizing these animals. We analyzed Brazilian profiles tha...

Biodiversity in the Cerrado biome is threatened by deforestation and the conversion of native vegetation by agricultural and urban areas. Unfortunately, in some areas such as the state of Tocantins, there is a sampling gap of mammalian fauna, resulting in a lack of knowledge. The present study contributes to reducing this gap by providing informati...

The vocalisations of anurans are one of their principal forms of communication and are mainly used for specific recognition involving the attraction of reproductive mates and territorial defense. In this study, we analysed the advertisement calls of 101 individuals from a population of Scinax fuscomarginatus sampled in the type locality of S. pusil...

In this study, we investigated the effects of the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) in an agrisystem located in the Brazilian Midwest. This PES benefits the owners of rural properties that encompass springs that feed the Abóbora River microbasin which supplies water for consumption in the city of Rio Verde, Goiás. We evaluated the percentage of...

O e-book “Biodiversidade associada a um sistema agroflorestal no Cerrado” é fruto de uma parceria entre pesquisadores dos projetos PELD EBMN (Universidade Federal de Goiás, IF Goiano/Campus Rio Verde, UniRV) e PELD CEMA (Universidade Federal de Jataí), com os proprietários da Fazenda Mata Lobo em Rio Verde/GO. O livro traz os resultados de pesquisa...

During the breeding season, hundreds of anurans agglomerate at spawning sites, where a diversity of social contexts arise. In this scenario, anurans may alter their vocal repertoire according to the immediate social context, to overcome intraspecific competition. To evaluate the acoustic response of Boana goiana to successive interactions with a co...

We report an event of a Caiman crocodilus consuming the catfish Pterygoplichthys pardalis. A list of known prey items of C. crocodilus was also compiled from the literature, including known vertebrate and invertebrate items for this species. The predation event was observed at the margin of a lagoon in Reserva Florestal Adolpho Ducke, located in th...

Despite the great diversity of Brazilian anuran species, there are still many knowledge gaps about the acoustic communication of these animals. Among the species, those classified as ‘Data Deficient’ have the greatest gaps in knowledge on their behavior. This is the case of Boana ericae, a species belonging to the Boana pulchella group, endemic to...

The ongoing global decline in the species diversity of amphibians and reptiles, and limited resources to study natural history, reinforce the need for the adequate sampling of all the different information pertaining to biological diversity that characterizes these organisms. Decision-making processes by conservationists should be based on reliable...

Drymarchon corais and Caiman crocodilus are reported here using different feeding behaviors for consuming poisonous toads of the genus Rhinella (Bufonidae). Drymarchon corais was observed feeding on specimens of Rhinella diptycha without avoiding contact with the parotoid macroglands, suggesting that this snake species is immune to toad toxins. Cai...

The replacement of natural landscapes by anthropic environments has led to habitat loss and consequently, to the decline and extinction of many species populations. Several strategies, such as the creation of protected areas (PAs) and payment for ecosystem services have been adopted to mitigate the consequences of this biodiversity crisis. In Rio V...

Protected areas are the most frequently used tool for the mitigation of threats to biodiversity. However, without effective management, the creation of new protected areas may be ineffective. In Brazil, protected areas must have both a governing body (consultative or deliberative council) and an official management plan. Here, we analyzed general t...

Quantitative analysis of the acoustic communication system in anurans is a relevant step toward understanding how acoustic traits variation is related to conspecific recognition and discrimination. Here, we report on the advertisement call variation of male Scinax fuscomarginatus at three levels: within-individual, between-individual, among-populat...

Understanding the main patterns that affect biodiversity in local and biogeographic scale is central in ecological and conservation studies. Here, we investigated the trappability of small mammals by different methodologies in a fragmented landscape on Atlantic Forest-Cerrado ecotone, and compared the estimated richness and composition of this stud...

Neighbour-stranger discrimination is an important mechanism in social behaviour, as it allows the individual to avoid the high energetic costs of repeated agonistic interactions with neighbours. In some anuran species, the owners of territories respond more aggressively towards strangers than neighbours. Here, we investigated whether gladiator frog...

Bioacoustics is an effective way of recording detailed data during population surveys and monitoring. In the present study, we used an automated digital recorder (ADR) to describe the temporal variation in the calling activity of Scinax fuscomarginatus (Lutz, 1925) in central Brazil. We also evaluated the role of climatic variables (air temperature...

Male anurans emit different call types in specific social contexts. Such calls represent a communication pathway for species recognition, mate choice, and male-male competition mediation. The acoustic parameters of these calls can be under directional and/or stabilizing selection due to female choice, which influences intra-and inter-individual cal...

Agoutis, Dasyprocta spp., are medium-sized rodents distributed in Neotropical region. Their diet is usually described as granivorous/frugivorous, and agoutis are recognised as important seed dispersers. Here, we present two spatially and temporally independent records of egg predation by Azara's agouti, Dasyprocta azarae, in fragments of Cerrado sa...

Agoutis, Dasyprocta spp., are medium‐sized rodents distributed in Neotropical region. Their diet is usually described as granivorous/frugivorous, and agoutis are recognised as important seed dispersers. Here, we present two spatially and temporally independent records of egg predation by Azara’s agouti, Dasyprocta azarae , in fragments of Cerrado s...

Guia dos anfíbios do estado de Goiás e do Distrito Federal, Brasil. Field Guide for Amphibians from the state of Goiás and the Federal District, Central Brazil

A região Centro-Oeste brasileira destaca-se pela expansão da fronteira agrícola e importantes avanços tecnológicos como agentes do crescimento da moderna agropecuária, gerando preocupação em termos de conservação da biodiversidade. Aliado a isto, ressalta-se que os anfíbios são o grupo de vertebrados mais ameaçados do mundo, sofrendo um acentuado d...

Abstract Allometric constraint is a product of natural selection and physical laws, particularly with respect to body size and traits constrained by properties thereof, such as metabolism, longevity, and vocal frequency. Allometric relationships are often conserved across lineages, indicating that physical constraints dictate scaling patterns in de...

Amphibians are one of the most threatened among the vertebrates species and urgently require conservation protection and planning. The establishment of protected areas (PAs) is one of the most important strategies in protecting biodiversity, as they offer a partial solution to habitat modification. Our main objective was to analyse the temporal and...

The Cerrado ecoregion, although threatened, holds an important diversity of medium- and large-sized mammals, which play considerable ecological functions. However, the functional diversity of medium- and large-sized mammals is considerably affected by landscape characteristics. Thus, we inventoried medium- and large-sized mammals in nine patches (n...

The Brazilian Cerrado biome is a biodiversity hotspot under gradual transformation by human activity, such as monocultures of cash crops and cattle ranching. While the Cerrado contains a considerable diversity of animals, its anuran fauna is still relatively poorly studied, even though 210 amphibian species are known to occur in this biome. Here, w...

Here we present a complete data set on the richness of medium- and large- sized mammals from a fragmented area of the southern Brazilian savanna (Cerrado). We described the frequency, occurrence status and activity period of the most common species. In each remnant, the community of medium- and large-sized mammals was inventoried across the follo...

We provide new records for R. sebbeni (Fig. 1) in the state of Goiás, and predict its potential distribution based on ecological niche model (ENM) to guide further field surveys.

Dendropsophus cruzi (Pombal & Bastos, 1998) is a small hylid (male snout-to-vent length = 16.3–19.4 mm; female SVL = 21.3–25.0 mm) that is allocated in the D. microcephalus group (Faivovich et al. 2005). It is commonly found in Open and forested areas from Central Brazil to Provincia Velasco, Departamento de Santa Cruz, Bolivia (Frost 2017; Tessaro...

Advertisement calls are often used as essential basic information in studies of animal behaviour, ecology, evolution, conservation, taxonomy or biodiversity inventories. Yet the description of this type of acoustic signals is far to be completed, especially in tropical regions, and is frequently non-standardized or limited in information, restricti...

Species list of Brazilian anurans and reference of the descriptions of the species and calls. (PDF)

Complete list of references cited in the S1 Table. (PDF)

Number and percentage of Brazilian anuran species with described calls per each biome. (PDF)

Collected information and metadata variables from each study (only presence or absence). (PDF)

We present a description of the external morphology of Phyllomedusa azurea and describe the internal oral morphology of P. azurea and P. oreades from populations of the Brazilian Cerrado. We also present a comparison with the available descriptions of the external morphology of tadpoles from the P. hypochondrialis group and review the internal oral...

Habitat loss and fragmentation are severe threats to biodiversity but have been little explored in studies of the woody vegetation of the Cerrado. The present study addressed the community structure of woody plants in 17 “Dense Cerrado” fragments in the Upper Basin of the Araguaia River (GO and MT), standardizing variables such as fragment size (>5...

Acoustic signals are employed to support the correct designation of species and enables the discrimination between individuals. We analyzed both intra and interindividual variability of the advertisement call of Physalaemus centralis on the basis of specimens recorded in eight localities of the Cerrado in central Brazil. Within-individual variation...

Proceratophrys dibernardoi Brandão, Caramaschi, Vaz-Silva & Campos 2013 has recently been described and allocated into the P. cristiceps species group, but no information about its advertisement calls has been provided (Brandão et al. 2013). Here, we describe for the first time the advertisement calls of P. dibernardoi based on specimens from Centr...

Environmental and morphological factors and social context influence the vocalizations of anuran species. Herein, we observed the acoustic behavior of Hypsiboas goianus males from Central Brazil and analyzed the following calls: advertisement, short aggressive and long aggressive. The acoustic parameters of advertisement calls were not correlated w...

Anuran advertisement calls receive much attention because of their importance in mating behaviour and the recognition of conspecifics. Herein, we studied geographic variation in the advertisement call of Dendropsophus cruzi from central Brazil, to test the hypothesis that between-population differences in call parameters can be explained by geograp...

Permanent preservation areas (PPAs) adjacent to drainage channels may include forests, savannahs, or grassland Under a former environmental legislation ("Forest Code"), it was required to maintain a strip of native vegetation (at least 30 m wide) at the margin of any drainage channel, to support environmental functions. Under the current native veg...

Anuran advertisement calls receive much attention because of their importance in mating behaviour and the recognition of conspecifics. Herein, we studied geographic variation in the advertisement call of Dendropsophus cruzi from central Brazil, to test the hypothesis that between-population differences in call parameters can be explained by geograp...

ABSTRACT Acoustic communication plays an important role in the social behavior of anurans. Acoustic signals, which can be used in different contexts such as mate attraction and territory defense, may mediate social interactions among individuals. Herein, we used playback experiments to test whether males of Hypsiboas goianus (Lutz, 1968) change the...

In frogs, acoustic signals are the most important communication mechanism, since they may be used in several social contexts. In many anurans, the dominant frequency of calls is negatively related to body size, and in such species, this spectral parameter may be considered a good predictor of fighting ability. We experimentally investigated the voc...

Rhinella mirandaribeiroi is widely distributed in the Cerrado domain and Cerrado enclaves in the Amazon forest, occurring also at the ecotone between this domain and surrounding formations. Here, we provide the first species record for the state of São Paulo, municipality of São Joaquim da Barra, northeast of the state. Additionally, we also provid...

Cerrado is the second largest phytogeographical domain in Brazil and one priority area for conservation, since it is a biodiversity hotspot (Myers et al., 2000). In Brazil, the implementation of protected areas is the most important mechanism to conserve the biodiversity (Araújo et al., 2012). However, only 4% of Cerrado's original area is protecte...

is the most frequently used sensory modality in anuran communication processes, and it is the stimulation by different vocalizations that is key to its function (Wells, 2007). Release calls are a type of vocalization most frequently emitted by male frogs, usually when amplected by conspecific males, and consisting of a series of simple, repeated no...

The advertisement call contains spectral and temporal information, which are used by frogs in different social contexts. We analysed the variation of advertisement calls among eleven populations of Scinax squalirostris along its broad distribution area, examining geographical patterns (latitude, longitude and altitude) related to this variation. We...

The advertisement call contains spectral and temporal information, which are used by frogs in different social contexts. We analysed the variation of advertisement calls among eleven populations of Scinax squalirostris along its broad distribution area, examining geographical patterns (latitude, longitude and altitude) related to this variation. We...

Amphibians are components of many ecological communities and they can be used as indicators of environmental quality. Thus, in this study we evaluated the genome sensitivity of four species of anuran amphibians of the Hylidae family in a cattle raising area (Bela Vista de Goiás) and in a nickel area (Barro Alto) both at Goiás state, Central Brazil....

The genus Physalaemus currently comprises 45 described species, distributed in South America east of the Andes, ranging from southeastern Colombia and southern Ven-ezuela to Uruguay and adjacent Argentina (Nascimento et al. 2005, Frost 2011). Seven species groups in the ge-nus were identified by Nascimento et al. (2005). The Physalaemus gracilis sp...

Acoustic signals are the most important communication mechanism for many anuran species. However, acoustic parameters can be influenced by several factors (e.g., body size, air temperature and social context). In the present study, we investigated the influence of the air temperature, morphological characteristics and distance between calling males...

The knowledge about the conservation status of species is an important data for conservation biology. Therefore, threatened species lists are a powerful tool for conservation planning and prioritization. Our objective is to compare the global, the national and state red lists of amphibians in Brazil. Threatened species were categorized according to...

aBsTracT. Barycholos ternetzi is an anuran species from the brazilian cerrado which can be found in gallery forests and cerrado sensu strictu. currently, the only available information about the natural history of B. ternetzi is a previous description of its adver-tisement call. Herein, we studied the vocal repertoire of this species in october 200...

O presente estudo caracteriza a assembleia de anuros em ambientes de veredas situadas na porcao norte do Cerrado e testa a hipotese de que areas queimadas apresentam menores indices de diversidade. O estudo foi realizado na Estacao Ecologica Serra Geral do Tocantins, entre os dias 12 e 22 de novembro de 2010. A amostragem foi realizada em seis vere...

The Brazilian savanna is the second largest biome in Brazil and one of the most altered due to anthropic action. Nowadays, it is considered one of the 25 hotspots of biodiversity, whereas little information about its fauna is available in literature. This gap is even bigger when treating about amphibians and reptiles. These animals are less studied...

Currently, the Rhinella granulosa species group is composed by 13 species of toads (R. azarai (Gallardo); R. bergi (Céspedez); R. bernardoi Sanabria et al.; R. centralis (Narvaes & Rodrigues); R. dorbignyi (Duméril & Bibron); R. fernandezae (Gallardo); R. granulosa (Spix); R. humboldti (Gallardo); R. major (Müller & Helmich); R. nattereri (Bokerman...

Aspects of natural history, such as the advertisement call, of many frog species from central Brazil are unknown. This kind of vocalization is important for specific recognition, thus studies describing these calls are needed. Herein we describe the advertisement calls of three anuran species from the Cerrado Biome: (a) Allobates goianus (Aromobati...

The Cerrado is the second largest biome in Brazil and is considered one of most important among the biodiversity hotspots. In this biome can be found about 150 anurans species, from which 30% are endemic. However, there are many Cerrado areas that have little information gathered about the anuran biodiversity. Thus, in this study we present the res...

The Cerrado is the second largest biome in Brazil and is considered one of most important among the biodiversity hotspots. In this biome can be found about 150 anurans species, from which 30% are endemic. However, there are many Cerrado areas that have little information gathered about the anuran biodiversity. Thus, in this study we present the res...

We describe the vocal repertoire of Scinax centralis (Anura, Hylidae), examine the influence of individual characteristics on acoustic parameters, and explore the role of sound level in aggressive interactions. Observations were carried out between January 1997 and June 2001 in a rivulet at Floresta Nacional (Flona), municipality of Silvânia, state...