Variação geográfica na morfologia de Gymnodactylus amarali (Squamata, Gekkonidae)

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2009

RESUMO

Folidosis differences among geographically distinct populations of Gymnodactylus amarali (Squamata, Phyllodactylidae) in the Brazilian Cerrado and their relationships with environmental variables of climate and altitude were investigated. Folidosis data were obtained from 1044 specimens of 44 different locations in herpetological collections, consisting of 21 meristic and eight (8) qualitative characters. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) were performed in three consecutive steps: 1, searching for spatial autocorrelation; 2, searching for environmental variables that explain the variation in the morphological data, using 56 variables from the database WordlClim; 3, last CCA using the previously selected components. There was no spatial autocorrelation for the morphological characters used. Two environmental variables (TMAX9 - maximum temperature of September, and TSeasonality - tempeature seasonality, the standard deviation of the annual mean of the weeks temperatures means) better explain the characters variation. Possibly, there are a strong selection acting in the ability to adapt to changes and/or temperature transitions in these organisms, showing more than a simple adaptation to situations of extreme dryness, especially for Cerrado, where huge climate fluctuations during the year occurs. A total of 12.69% of the morphological variation was constrained by the analysis, indicating that adaptation may in part explain the morphological variation observed. Phylogeographical analysis of G. amarali would play an important role explaining the historical factors involved in the remained variation.

ASSUNTO(S)

folidosis canonical correspondence analysis spatial autocorrelation autocorrelação espacial cerrado folidose análise de correlação canônica cerrado ecologia lagartos lizards

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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