Population patterns and ecological-evolutionary processes in the Atlantic Forest-Cerrado ecotone

• Grant number: 25/12584-4
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Regular Research Grants
• Start date: November 01, 2025
• End date: October 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Vera Nisaka Solferini
• Grantee: Vera Nisaka Solferini
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: Campinas
• Associated researchers: Ana Carolina Oliveira de Queiroz Carnaval

Abstract

Ecotones are dynamic transition areas between distinct ecological systems, usually presenting high biodiversity. They are considered important for understanding evolutionary processes, for conservation strategies and for environmental monitoring; they are, potentially, the first regions to be affected by climate changes. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the diversity patterns in these regions: 1. ecotone diversity would represent the sum of the biotas of adjacent systems: their populations would be in sink areas; 2. high diversity would result from evolutionary novelties maintained by the unique ecological dynamics in these regions. Although ecotones are represented as geographic areas between ecological systems, their characteristics and processes are strongly associated with the peculiarities of their organisms. Most studies on ecotones have been conducted at the community level, while intraspecific patterns and processes remain little explored. Cerrado and Atlantic Forest are adjacent Brazilian domains, extremely biodiverse and with contrasting environmental characteristics; their ecotone is still little studied. This project proposes the study of two spider species (Araneomorphae) Trichonephila clavipes and Aglaoctenus lagotis in the Cerrado - Atlantic Forest ecotone, applying integrated approaches to assess diversity at the population level and to infer the underlying ecological and evolutionary processes. The main objectives are: to describe patterns of diversity and morphological, ecological and genomic structuring of populations of the two species and to infer ecological and evolutionary processes involved in the establishment and maintenance of these patterns along the ecotone. (AU)