Evaluation of the potential of riparian forest in the structure and functioning of tropical streams

• Grant number: 23/02918-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: August 12, 2023
• End date: February 11, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz
• Grantee: Matheus Eijii Kinchoku Ogasawara
• Supervisor: Solange Filoso
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Solomons (UMCES), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/16244-0 - Evaluation of the potential of riparian forest restoration in the structure and functioning of tropical streams, BP.DR

Abstract

Tropical streams have great importance due to their biodiversity, provision of essential ecosystem services for humans, but also because they are considered one of the ecosystems most threatened by changes in land use and climate. The riparian forest is an important component for the dynamics and functioning of streams, and helps to maintain their ecosystem processes, controlling the input of light and organic matter. However due to the long restoration process of the riparian forest, direct interventions to restore streams are justified, such as, the manipulation of structural complexity of the stream. The objective of this BEPE project is to examine the health of streams with restored riparian forest of different ages and after the addition of large wood to the channel based on a combination of structural and functional metrics recommended to capture the complexity of stream ecosystem characteristics and ecological processes. The study is being carried out at the Experimental Station of Forest Sciences of Itatinga (EECFI), from the University of São Paulo. For evaluation of the stream restoration effects, the water quality, metabolism and periphyton will be analyzed. Restorations projects from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science will be complementary to the PhD's project and will be very useful to complement and process the data already obtained. In the end, it is hoped that it will be possible to understand how restored riparian forests and the manipulation of the stream's structural complexity can improve and maintain water quality, the ecological processes and its ecosystem functions. (AU)