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Updated: Jan 30, 2026

Simulating Impacts of Ice Storms on Forest Ecosystems
Published on: June 30, 2020
Anuran diversity indicates that Caatinga relictual Neotropical forests are more related to the Atlantic Forest than
Deborah P Castro1,2, João Fabrício M Rodrigues3, Maria Juliana Borges-Leite1
1Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais/Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil.
Abstract:
The relationships among the morphoclimatic domains of South America have been a major biogeographical issue of recent years. Palynological, geological and phytogeographical data suggest that the Amazon Forest and the Atlantic Forest were connected during part of the Tertiary and Quaternary periods. This study uses amphibians as model organisms to investigate whether relict northeastern forests are a transition between the Amazon Forest and the Atlantic Forest. We compiled matrices of species composition for four different phytogeographic formations and "Brejos de Altitude," and analyzed them using clustering methods and Cladistic Analysis of Distributions and Endemism. Our results indicate that the anurofauna of these northeastern forest relicts is most similar in composition to the areas of the Atlantic Forest included in this study, and most dissimilar to the Amazon Forest, which leads us to affirm that events of biotic exchange were more frequent within the Atlantic Forest areas.
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