Importance of local and landscape variables on multiple facets of stream fish biodiversity in a Neotropical agroecosystem

• Autor(a) principal: Roa-Fuentes, Camilo A. [UNESP]
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Heino, Jani, Zeni, Jaquelini O. [UNESP], Ferraz, Silvio, Cianciaruso, Marcus V., Casatti, Lilian [UNESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10750-020-04396-7; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/202078
• topic: Functional diversity; Pasture; Phylogenetic diversity; Stream restoration; Sugarcane; Taxonomic diversity

Few studies have considered the effects of environmental variables at different spatial scales on Neotropical stream biodiversity. Furthermore, scale-related studies mostly include only one facet of biodiversity. To determine the contribution of local and landscape variables to the variation in the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic α-diversity of stream fish assemblages, we sampled 85 streams in the Upper Paraná River basin, Brazil. Local variables explained a substantial fraction of the variance in almost all biodiversity facets. Landscape variables (i.e., land-use and spatial variables) contributed little to the variation in the α-component of biodiversity. Our results thus highlight the importance of local features for maintaining stream fish biodiversity in agroecosystems. Probably, land-use were not significant because the study area was in a relatively homogeneous landscape severely impacted by anthropogenic activities. It is possible that insignificant effects of spatial structuring occurred because the ichthyofauna has already gone through a homogenization process and/or due to the spatial scale of our study. We suggest that even though local-scale restoration actions would influence biodiversity, we should not neglect landscape restoration because substantial improvements in the ecological integrity of streams are more likely to be accomplished with large-scale actions (e.g., re-establishment of the native riparian forest).