Fish distribution in watersheds of the eastern part of the Serra da Mantiqueira (state of Sao Paulo)

• Autor(a) principal: Braga, F. M. S. [UNESP]
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Outros Autores: Carmassi, A. L., Rondineli, G., Lourenco, J. M. R. M. F. [UNESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1519-69842014000200302&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/130013
• topic: Icthyofauna; Species diversity; Altitudinal gradient; Ictiofauna; Diversidade de espécies; Gradiente altitudinal

The present work aims to analyse jointly four contiguous watersheds in the eastern part of the Serra da Mantiqueira with respect to the distribution of fish fauna and physical structure. The watersheds of Piracuama river, Ribeirao Grande, Buenos and Guaratingueta are located in Pindamonhangaba, Campos do Jordao and Guaratingueta municipalities, in the state of Sao Paulo. Data were collected between the years 2001 and 2010, with collections distributed throughout the seasons, including sites located on the slope and piedmont. The limnological parameters analysed were different between watersheds and habitat structure was different only for the slope segments between Ribeirao Grande and Buenos watersheds, and between Ribeirao Grande and Piracuama watersheds. Thirty-five species of fish were caught, with the highest species richness found in the Ribeirao Grande watershed (30 species), followed by the Piracuama (23 species) and Buenos and Guaratingueta (21 species each). The most abundant species in both the segments (slope and piedmont) was Trichomycterus itatiayae. The highest degree of species dominance occurred in the Guaratingueta watershed and in the segment slope, being T. itatiayae the dominant species. Species diversity was lower at the slope than the piedmont, indicating variability in species abundance. Again T. itatiayae was the most abundant species in both segments, showing to be a well adapted species to these streams systems by presenting, as well as other species, morphological adaptations to the stream environment.