Data for Temporal dynamics of species richness and composition in a peri-urban tropical frog community in central Brazil

Analyzing the temporal dynamics of ecological communities can shed light on coexistence mechanisms and help understanding how populations and communities will behave in the face of climate change. However, little is known about how frog communities respond to climate in urban ecosystems, especially in the Global South, which is urbanizing at faster rates and more recently than the North. Here, we analyzed how species richness and abundance of frogs are influenced by microclimate both intra- and interannually. We surveyed frogs in five sites within an urban area in central Brazil, recording male calling period and using visual surveys monthly for three consecutive years. To test the effect of microclimate on species richness and abundance, we used Generalized Additive Mixed-Effects models, controlling for temporal autocorrelation. We assessed seasonality in species richness and abundance using circular statistics. We also tested for differences in temporal beta diversity within and between years by estimating species disappearance and temporal rank shift, in addition to a multivariate model-based method to test the effect of year on species composition. Finally, we tested how taxonomic and phylogenetic alpha diversity changed through time using a novel approach based on Hill numbers. We found that species richness varied very little among years and was affected only by photoperiod, while species abundance was more variable both between and within years, being mostly affected by humidity, temperature, and photoperiod. Species composition varied little between years, mostly between the first and subsequent years. Conversely, beta diversity was highest within years. Only the effective species number (q=0) of taxonomic diversity changed significantly through time. Our results can help not only understanding temporal mechanisms that allow species coexistence, but also evaluate the impact of urbanization on biodiversity in recently urbanizing landscapes.