The Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change

is a research museum of the Leibniz Association

Prof. Dr. Mirco K. Solé

former Humboldt Fellow
Mail: mksole [at] uesc.br

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Field of work

I started working on Brazilian amphibians in 1998 in the southernmost state Rio Grande do Sul. In 2006 I moved northwards to Bahia. This state lies within the largest pleistocene amphibian refuge within the Atlantic Forest domain and has an astonishing and mostly still undiscovered amphibian fauna. Despite field expeditions to forest fragments no herpetologist has set foot before I work on several other aspects of herpetology. One of them is related to climate change. While the rest of the world fauna suffered with cold and dry climate during the last glacial maxima Southern Bahia remained tropically hot and humid. That means that while in other areas ecophysiological aspects were one of the main motors for amphibian evolution and extinction this doesn’t seem to have been an issue for Bahian frogs. But in a world with changing climate and rising temperatures exactly that may be their weak point now. We have found out that several amphibians already live just some few degrees below their critical maximal tolerance limit and may be severely threatened with rising temperatures.

Research interests

• Taxonomy, faunistics, aut- / synecology, diversity patterns and conservation of amphibians and reptiles with special focus on tropical amphibian communities
• Spatial epidemiology of the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytridium dendrobatidis
• Macroecology / Species Distribution Modelling with focus on climate change impacts as well as structure and evolution of environmental niches
• Amphibian taxonomy, systematics, tadpole morphology and bioacoustics
• Amphibian ecophysiology and ecotoxicology, mainly focused on herbicides and fertilizers
• Species Distribution Modelling with focus on the impacts of climate change in the Neotropics and on invasive species.
• Amphibian ecology mainly focused on the trophic niche they occupy, but also on reproductive aspects.
• Amphibian tadpoles as biocontrol of mosquito larvae in tank bromeliads

Memberships

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde (DGHT), Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR), Sociedade Brasileira de Herpetologia, Societas Europaea Herpetologica

Awards

2016 FAPESB Grant for the international cooperation project “Intergação de dados ecofisiológicos em modelos de distribuição de espécies para avaliação do efeito das mudançãs climáticas sobre os anfíbios” (together with Iuri Ribeiro Dias, Euvaldo Marciano Santos Silva Junior, Danilo Silva Ruas, Dennis Rödder, Maiara Carvalho Alves, Victor Goyannes Dill Orrico, Alexandre Schiavetti, Áurea Maria Felicia Trindade Claudio, Beatriz Kellen Teixeira Félix, Jéssica Pereira Lago de Azevedo, David Miná Hafner, Livia Maria Cabral. 78.920, 00 Brazilian Reais., 2015 Joint CNPq-FAPESB Grant for the PROTAX Project “Desvendando a diversidade de anfíbios das áreas de altitude da Mata Atlântica do Sul da Bahia com ferramentas de taxonomia integrativa” (together Iuri Ribeiro Dias, Ramon Dominato. PROTAX: 91.800, 00 Brazilian Reais, FAPESB: 70.000, 2014 Fundação O Boticário de Proteção à Natureza Grant for the research project “Diversidade e estrutura genética dos anfíbios do Corredor Central da Mata Atlântica do Sul da Bahia” (together with Iuri Ribeiro Dias, Débora Cristina Pereira Sales-de-Aquino, Caio Vinicius de Mira Mendes, Maria Iracilda Cunha Sampaio, Adriane Barth, Lídia Nogueira Silva. 44.382, 53 Brazilian Reais., CNPq-Ciências sem Fronteiras PVE Grant for the Project “Activity Pattern and Habitat Correlates of the Atlantic Bushmaster (Surucucú da Mata Atlantica) and the Piraja's Lancehead (Jaracuçu-tapete)” (together with Tadeu Teixeira Medeiros, Antônio Jorge Suzart Argôlo, Konrad Mebert. 70.251, 72 Brazilian Reais., 2013 The Mohamed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund Grant for the conservation project “Natural History of the Flea Toad (Brachycephalus pulex) at the RPPN Serra Bonita, Camacan, Bahia, Brazil” (together with Iuri Ribeiro Dias). 2.500 US Dollar., 2012 CNPq- Ciências sem Fronteiras BjT Grant for the project “Impact of global change on amphibians: analysis of the tolerance of Brazilian amphibians to the effects of temperature increase and pollution” (together with Andrés Egea-Serrano). 18.000, FAPESB institutional Project “Consolidação da Taxonomia Integrativa no Mestrado em Zoologia da Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz” (together with all the Professors of the Zoology master of UESC). 118.270, 2010 FAPESB “Ação Referência” Grant for the Project “Atlas dos anfíbios do Sul da Bahia” (together with Tatiana Raquel Alves Vilaça, Maria Lúcia Del-Grande, Ricardo Lourenço de Moraes, Tatiane Rocha Cardozo, Talita Souza de Oliveira, Victória Duarte Lacerda, Vinícius Brito Lima. 48.640, CNPq-Universal Project “Prevendo o potencial de distribuição de anfíbios anuros no corredor central da Mata Atlântica” (together with Iuri Ribeiro Dias, Weslei Pertel, Felipe Siqueira Campos, Sérgio Siqueira Júnior, Raoni Rebouças Santos, Indira Maria Castro Santos. 19.956, 60 Brazilian Reais., 2009 Fundação O Boticário de Proteção à Natureza Grant for the research Project “Caracterização dos vertebrados terrestres do Complexo RPPN Serra Bonita como auxílio para sua gestão efetiva” (together with Martín Roberto del Valle Alvarez, Luís Fábio Silveira, Fábio Falcão, Gilson Evaristo Iack Ximenes, Fernando Botelho. 48.639, 15 Brazilian Reais.

Further information

Memberships and functions in professional associations and journals
Functions and services as reviewer
Since 2015 
Associate editor: Basic and Applied Herpetology
Since 2013 
Associate editor: Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências
Since 2012 
Section editor: Herpetology Notes
Since 2013 
Associate editor: Herpetologia Brasileira
Since 2012 
Editorial board member: Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment
Since 2009
Editorial board member: Journal of Threatened Taxa
Since 2008
Associate editor: The Herpetological Journal

Brazilian Academy of Science: Affiliate member from 2012-2016


FAPESB (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia): Representative of the state Universities in the curatorial council (2014-2017), member of the biology committee (2011-2015).
Fundação O Boticário de Proteção à Natureza: Since 2016: consultant. 
Scientific Journals: Herpetological Journal, Brazilian Journal of Biology, Iheringia. Série Zoologia, Biociências, Comunicações do Museu de Ciências da PUCRS. Série zoologia, Salamandra, Boletín de la Asociación Herpetológica Española, Pan-American Journal of Aquatic Sciences, Journal of Natural History, Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment, Check List, Phyllomedusa, Tropical Zoology, Diversity, PloS one, Caldasia, Herpetology Notes, Revista Brasileira de Zoologia, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Aquatic Conservation, North-Western Journal of Zoology, Journal of Herpetology, South American Journal of Herpetology, Journal of Threatened Taxa, Revista Brasileira de Biociências, Boletim do Museu de Biologia Mello Leitão, African Journal of Herpetology, Biotropica, Biota Neotropica, Zootaxa, Biological Invasions, Agroforestry Systems, Animal Conservation, ASIAN HERPETOL RES, Copeia, Acta Ethologica, Behaviour, Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, ACTA HERPETOL, Tropical Conservation Science, ZooKeys, EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS, Austral Ecology, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation, Nature Conservation, Scientific Reports
Research projects:  CNPq, CAPES, BBVA, "La Caixa", FAPEAM, FAPESB, FAPESP, FAPERN, FAPES, FUNDECT, Fundação O Boticário de Proteção à Natureza.

Organized scientific meetings
08/2013
VI Congresso Brasileiro de Herpetologia, Salvador, Brazil (together with Marcelo Napoli and Flora Acuña Juncá)

 

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