Assessing ecological quality of aquatic environments of Itanhaém River Basin using aquatic macrophytes: a proposal for development of an index of biotic integrity

• Grant number: 12/21517-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2013
• Effective date (End): February 29, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Antonio Fernando Monteiro Camargo
• Grantee: Cristiane Akemi Umetsu
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The human pressure is one of the mainly concerns about the functioning of the ecosystems and the aquatic environments have been extensively affected. The ecological evaluation of aquatic environments through ecological indicators can be an important tool for monitoring and conservation. The macrophyte assemblage is between the main biological elements needed to determine the ecological status of running water since are directly influenced by water quality and respond directly to changes in concentration of nutrients, and consequently, can reflects changes in taxonomic composition of macrophyte community. The aim of this project is to verify the influence of physic-chemical characteristics of aquatic environments of Itanhaém river basin, which suffers with different degree of human pressure, on attributes of aquatic macrophyte assemblages. Simultaneously, through this information, we propose to evaluate the potential of aquatic macrophytes to develop a macrophyte index of biotic integrity. For this purpose, the aquatic environments will be assessed through 21 environmental variables and 10 potential metrics of the attribute of macrophyte assemblage. The information will be compiled and analyzed to develop an index of biotic integrity, which will be able to assess the ecological quality of the environments of Itanhaém river basin.

Scientific publications

(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)

CORREIA NUNES, LAIS SAMIRA; UMETSU, CRISTIANE AKEMI; MONTEIRO CAMARGO, ANTONIO FERNANDO. Environmental heterogeneity influences life-form richness and species composition but not species richness of aquatic macrophytes in tropical coastal rivers. Freshwater Biology, v. 65, n. 11, JUL 2020. (16/01416-4, 12/21517-9)

UMETSU, CRISTIANE AKEMI; AGUIAR, FRANCISCA C.; FERREIRA, MARIA TERESA; CANCIAN, LEONARDO FARAGE; MONTEIRO CAMARGO, ANTONIO FERNANDO. Addressing bioassessment of tropical rivers using macrophytes: The case of Itanhaem Basin, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Aquatic Botany, v. 150, p. 53-63, NOV 2018. (12/21517-9)

EVANGELISTA, HELOISA B. A.; THOMAZ, SIDINEI MAGELA; UMETSU, CRISTIANE AKEMI. An analysis of publications on invasive macrophytes in aquatic ecosystems. AQUATIC INVASIONS, v. 9, n. 4, p. 521-528, NOV 2014. (12/21517-9)

Academic Publications

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

UMETSU, Cristiane Akemi. Avaliação da qualidade ecológica de ambientes aquáticos da bacia hidrográfica do Rio Itanhaém através da assembleia de macrófitas aquáticas: proposta para a formulação de um índice de integridade biótica. 2016. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias. Jaboticabal Jaboticabal.