Beneath the pond: unraveling the fish community composition and traits configuration seasonally in natural and artificial temporary habitats of the Atlantic Forest

• Grant number: 23/14344-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: February 28, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Applied Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Rafael Mendonça Duarte
• Grantee: João Henrique Alliprandini da Costa
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB-CLP). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus Experimental do Litoral Paulista. São Vicente , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Temporary ponds are ecosystems formed by the joint action of flooding from streams and rainwater and have a high level of endemism, but are extremely vulnerable to human activities. There are few studies that seek to understand the composition of the pond fish community and what are its predictors, especially in the Atlantic Forest and in artificial ponds. In view of this, the present project aims to evaluate ichthyofauna of natural and artificial pools of the Atlantic Forest in the Preto River microbasin, in Itanhaém, São Paulo, together with the monitoring of the volume of these water bodies, distance from the stream and using as predictors physiological, morphometric and trophic traits. The fish will be sampled throughout all the months of 2024, and the abiotic variables will be monitored by pond. After that, up to 10 individuals per species and each season will be tested for their thermal tolerances, and in the laboratory up to 30 individuals per species and season will be randomly selected for analysis of morphometric indices and intraspecific diet variation. We hope to understand not only the composition of pond ichthyofauna, but the processes that shape their abundance and richness, whether there is a taxonomic and functional nesting along the distance from the nearest stream, and whether swimming capacities and thermal tolerance influence the population density of these species and the intraspecific competition for food resources. (AU)

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)

DA COSTA, JOAO HENRIQUE ALLIPRANDINI; SOUZA, URSULLA PEREIRA; SELINGER, AMANDA; VIDAL, THOMAS ALVES; LANGEANI, FRANCISCO; DUARTE, RAFAEL MENDONCA. Rediscovery of the critically endangered annual killifish Leptopanchax itanhaensis (Costa, 2008) in a temporary pool and roadside ditch from the Atlantic Forest of Southeast Brazil. Biota Neotropica, v. 24, n. 3, p. 5-pg., 2024-01-01. (23/14344-5)