AquaInvert-Amazônia: Integrating science and local knowledge to understand the biodiversity of aquatic invertebrates in Amazonian high-altitude areas

• Grant number: 25/03819-8
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: October 01, 2025
• End date: September 30, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Lívia Maria Fusari
• Grantee: Lívia Maria Fusari
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Bruno Spacek Godoy ; Daniel de Paiva Silva ; LUIZ CARLOS DE PINHO ; Neusa Hamada ; Vânia Graciele Lezan Kowalczuk

Abstract

Knowledge about the diversity of aquatic invertebrates in the Amazon is limited by its vast geographical extension and the difficulties in accessing certain regions due to the scarcity or precariousness of roads. This adds to the cost of research in these hard-to-reach regions, as it includes travel by air or river, and in the latter case, it takes time away from the team in the field, due to the difficulties of navigation. Another complicated factor in getting to know the diversity of aquatic invertebrates is the low number of taxonomists, considering the high diversity of these organisms in the Amazon, resulting in taxonomic impediments for various groups. Obtaining information on the diversity of aquatic invertebrates in high-altitude regions (> 500 meters above sea level) and in some places where there is no taxonomic information on this group, is essential to fill in gaps in knowledge about the real diversity and geographical distribution of these organisms. This proposal aims to invent the biodiversity of Amazonian aquatic invertebrates in high-altitude areas, verify the relationship of organisms with environmental variables and determine hypotheses of potential distribution (present/future scenarios) of these organisms using ecological theory and statistical methods, as well as developing teaching and scientific dissemination activities integrating local and scientific knowledge. The study will be carried out in three Amazonian states (AM, PA and RR), by researchers based in six Brazilian states (AM, GO, PA, RR, SC, SP). Integration between the scientific knowledge generated and the local knowledge of the indigenous peoples will be essential to develop the research and the educational material using the mother tongues of the communities involved in the research to disseminate science locally and in other regions of Brazil. Training and capacity building of human resources will take place in all the project's themes, including indigenous students. (AU)