EFFECTS OF RIVERSCAPE CHANGES ON ECO-HYDROLOGICAL CONNECTIVITY OF AMAZONIAN STREAMS

• Grant number: 24/06905-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: February 28, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz
• Grantee: Gabriel Oliveira Ferraz
• Supervisor: Bernard Josiah Barlow
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Lancaster University, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/15332-8 - CHANGES IN THE RIVERSCAPE STRUCTURE OF AMAZON STREAMS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON ECO-HYDROLOGICAL CONNECTIVITY, BP.MS

Abstract

Road construction threatens the Amazon by driving deforestation and fragmentation of the remaining forests. However, the consequences for freshwater ecosystems from the planet's largest river basin are still poorly known. The interaction of rural and forest roads with streams causes local alterations both inside the watercourse and outside, in the riparian zone. However, the cumulative impacts to aquatic connectivity is expected to span along the whole hydrographic network. The objective of this BEPE project is to investigate the status of the eco-hydrological connectivity of streams in the agriculture frontier in the Amazon. The study is being conducted in the municipalities of Paragominas and Santarém, in the state of Pará, where crossings have been mapped and in the field, both validated (e.g. presence and absence) and characterized (e.g. infrastructure type, presence of lentic habitat upstream the crossing, channel unevenness downstream the structure). This internship will be a unique opportunity for me to work closely with Prof. Jos Barlow who is leading world-class research on human impacts to tropical forests ecosystem services and biodiversity. At Lancaster University, I will be part of the Tropical Forest group and strengthen my interaction with the Sustainable Amazon Network, both led by Prof. Barlow. I will use the time abroad to (i) carry out the connectivity analyses that are central to my dissertation, (ii) analyze the distribution of road crossings in the studied landscapes and (iii) work on a synthesis about the status of fragmentation of freshwater ecosystems by roads in the Amazon. I expect that the internship experience will greatly enhance my master dissertation and provide me with a better understanding of the pressures on Amazonian ecosystems.