Effects of land use change on the ecology of fishes in the headwaters of the Xingu River

• Grant number: 11/20458-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: June 01, 2012
• End date: April 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Luis Cesar Schiesari
• Grantee: Paulo Ricardo Ilha Jiquiriçá
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 08/57939-9 - Impacts of the expansion of the sugarcane agroindustry on freshwater communities, AP.BIOEN.JP

Abstract

Changes in land use and vegetation cover are the main vectors of inland waters degradation. The removal of vegetation cover facilitates erosion and sediment transport, nutrients and contaminants into the rivers, changes water physical and chemical characteristics and the availability of food and shelter for aquatic biota, and increases water flow and aquatic microhabitats homogenization. Therefore, significant biodiversity reductions occur in the affected water body. The most dramatic impacts of land use changes are suffered by smaller streams, because they are the primary recipients of the materials discharge from terrestrial systems. In the headwaters region of the Xingu River, conversion of forest to pasture and soybean crop in the agricultural expansion threatens the integrity of one of the greatest symbols of socio-cultural and biological diversity of Brazil. This study will test through standardized sampling methods in replicated streams the hypothesis that land use changes in the headwaters of the Xingu River affect individuals, populations and communities of fishes. Effects observed at the different biological organization levels will be associated with changes in environmental parameters related to the lotic system integrity and from the land management, particularly concerning the conversion of forest to pasture and soybean crop. Thus, this work aims to establish the baselines for the development of an environmental integrity evaluation system for the Xingu River headwaters using fishes.

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SCHIESARI, LUIS; ILHA, PAULO R.; BETIN NEGRI, DANIEL DIN; PRADO, PAULO INACIO; GRILLITSCH, BRITTA. Ponds, puddles, floodplains and dams in the Upper Xingu Basin: could we be witnessing the `lentification' of deforested Amazonia?. PERSPECTIVES IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION, v. 18, n. 2, p. 61-72, APR-JUN 2020. (08/57939-9, 11/20458-6, 10/52321-7)

ILHA, PAULO; SCHIESARI, LUIS; YANAGAWA, I, FERNANDO; JANKOWSKI, KATHIJO; NAVAS, CARLOS A.. Deforestation and stream warming affect body size of Amazonian fishes. PLoS One, v. 13, n. 5, MAY 2 2018. (11/20458-6, 08/57939-9)

ILHA, PAULO; ROSSO, SERGIO; SCHIESARI, LUIS. Effects of deforestation on headwater stream fish assemblages in the Upper Xingu River Basin, Southeastern Amazonia. Neotropical Ichthyology, v. 17, n. 1, 2019. (08/57939-9, 11/20458-6)

SCHIESARI, LUIS; ILHA, PAULO R.; BETIN NEGRI, DANIEL DIN; PRADO, PAULO INACIO; GRILLITSCH, BRITTA. Ponds, puddles, floodplains and dams in the Upper Xingu Basin: could we be witnessing the 'lentification' of deforested Amazonia?. PERSPECTIVES IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION, v. 18, n. 2, p. 12-pg., 2020-04-01. (08/57939-9, 11/20458-6, 10/52321-7)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

JIQUIRIÇÁ, Paulo Ricardo Ilha. Effects of forest conversion into agricultural areas on fish assemblages in the headwaters of the Xingu River. 2015. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IBIOC/SB) São Paulo.