Lagoas marginais: importância ecológica para a conservação de aves aquáticas no Alto Rio São Francisco, Minas Gerais Brasil

• Autor(a) principal: Carvalho, Cristina Martins Simões
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: LOCUS Repositório Institucional da UFV
• Texto Completo: http://locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/2281
• topic: Aves aquáticas; Lagoas marginais; Ramsar; Waterbirds; Oxbow lakes; Ramsar; CNPQ::CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS::ZOOLOGIA

I evaluated the ecological importance of the floodplains and associated oxbow lakes to the conservation of waterbirds in the upper San Francisco river. The study area in located in the municipality of Iguatama, Minas Gerais, Brazil, is areas formerly covered by Cerrado vegetation. The first chapter focuses on the waterbird community found in the study area. Between July 2012 and June 2013, censuses were conducted in ten ponds sampled (five five seasonal and permanent), with a distribution of 30 points (radius 100 m) and sampling effort 3600min. We calculated/estimated the species richness and diversity for the whole study area, as well as for each sampling site and season (wet and dry). Species richness was higher during the wet season for all sampling sites. On the other hand, species diversity did not show a consistent pattern of variation between seasons. A cluster analysis (UPGMA) did not reveal the formation of distinctive groups based on the species composition found in the two kinds of oxbow lakes. Among the 41 species of non-Passerines waterbirds recorded, three species are considered threatened (Mycteria americana, Jabiru mycteria and Platalea ajaja), and two are rare in Minas Gerais (Netta erythrophthalma and Laterallus exilis). The study area harbors one of the largest known populations of M. americana in southeastern Brazil (ca. 120 birds), with known records of breeding activity on previous years. Seasonal oxbow lakes were the main foraging sites of the two threatened Ciconiidae species found in the area, what demonstrates that this habitat is of paramount importance for the conservation of these species. The second chapter focuses on the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands as a conservation tool. I suggest that the Ramsar Convention provides a good opportunity for funding and for the effective implementation of conservation measures in important but highly degraded areas, where the creation of conservation units is difficult or unlikely, such as in the Upper São Francisco.