Ecological and populational atributes of microcrustaceans (Cladocera and Copepoda) submited to eutrophication and drought events in a river-lake system

• Grant number: 20/08071-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2021
• End date: February 28, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Gilmar Perbiche Neves
• Grantee: Camila Moreira da Silva
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Accumulated effects of more than two hundred years of human actions are resulting in uncontrolled climatic and environmental conditions, also reflecting on biological communities and their interactions with the environment. Higher temperatures are observed each year, rising sea levels, periods of extreme drought, soil erosion due to the removal of forests, rain and intense environmental pollution. The present project aims to analyze zooplankton and the relationships with the physical, chemical and biological variables of a marginal lagoon to the Paranapanema River, submitted to the direct discharge of domestic sewage, possibly providing a compartmentalized and eutrophic environment. It is intended to test the following hypotheses: I. the highest concentration of nutrients close to the sewage source, results in changes in the ecological attributes of the zooplankton community and for the limnological variables; II. the macrophytes present in the places with the highest concentrations of nutrients, retain eutrophication close to the source of the dumping and reflect in wide spatial compartmentalization; III. seasonal variations in the lagoon level influence the limnological characteristics and the dominance of species; IV. Seasonal differences reflect in limnological variables, patterns of equitability and dominance in the dry period. Four quarterly collections will be carried out, with the aid of a zooplankton net, at nine points in the lagoon and the precipitation levels of the county will be monitored. In the laboratory, water analysis, species identification and quantification will be carried out. The data will be analyzed statistically in order to detect trends under the proposed effects.