Influence of width of restored riparian forests on ant diversity

• Grant number: 14/21931-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2015
• End date: June 30, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Milton Cezar Ribeiro
• Grantee: Marco Aurélio Ferreira Martins de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/50718-5 - Ecological restoration of riparian forests, native forest of economic production and of degraded forest fragments (in APP and RL) based on restoration ecology of reference ecosystems in order to scientifically test the precepts of the New Brazilian Forest Code, AP.BTA.TEM

Abstract

Habitat loss and fragmentation are the main threats to biodiversity, since it causes resource reduction and isolation of the biodiversity. Conservation strategies that address to mitigate these threats highlight riparian forests as key elements in the restoration process, since it, besides protecting water resources, increases habitat patch connectivity. However, since 2012 the new Brazilian environmental legislation allows, in certain cases, the reduction of the width of riparian forests from 30 to only 15 meters, which may represent a threat to biodiversity. This study aims to evaluate the influence of the width of the restored riparian forest on ant biodiversity, a taxonomic group of great ecological importance and of easy sampling. We intend to answer: (I) width of restored riparian forests influence the diversity of ants? (II) there is a threshold on restoration width on ants biodiversity where decreases significantly? Our hypothesis will be tested using generalized additive models (GAM) and analysis of variance (ANOVA). We expect that the reduction of the width of the riparian forest influences negatively ant biodiversity; we also expect that there is a threshold on restoration width (<30 m wide) in which the ant diversity decreases abruptly. Therefore, this study may help in understanding and developing methods for monitoring and evaluation of restoration of riparian forests.