| Grant number: | 12/05983-0 |
| Support Opportunities: | Regular Research Grants |
| Start date: | August 01, 2012 |
| End date: | January 31, 2015 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Zoology - Applied Zoology |
| Principal Investigator: | Lilian Casatti |
| Grantee: | Lilian Casatti |
| Host Institution: | Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil |
| Associated researchers: | Camilo Andrés Roa Fuentes ; Fernando Rogério de Carvalho ; Francisco Langeani Neto ; Marcus Vinicius Cianciaruso |
Abstract
Functional diversity is a component of the biodiversity that express the degree of functional differences among species or the value and variation of species pool and their traits that influence the communities function. Lately, this information has been efficiently used to evaluate anthropic influences on plant and animal assemblages, resulting in more robust responses than just taxonomic information. Functional traits can be morphological, physiological, reproductive or behavioral. The functional diversity can be useful to recognize the processes which determine the functioning of communities and to assess more precisely the implications of species extinction in biotic communities. The present project emphasizes the functional diversity of stream fish fauna since these organisms represents an important role in nutrients cycling, both along the trophic level and space due to migration that they perform. The main objective of this project is to evaluate how the taxonomic, functional diversity and functional specialization vary depending on the habitat degradation associated with different land uses, corresponding to the predominant agrosystems in the region. At least 45 microbasins (15 mainly used for pasture, 15 for sugarcane, and 15 reference) will be sampled to environmental and fish data. Taxonomic diversity (species richness and Shannon-Wiener index) and functional diversity (space, evenness, and functional dispersion) will be obtained by ecomorphological traits. As predictions, we expect that functional diversity will better express the differences among land uses than taxonomic diversity, that some functional groups will be more sensible than others to the land use changes and that more specialized species will respond to disturbance more negatively than opportunistic ones. (AU)
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