DO STREMS WITH UNIQUE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS DRIVE TO A SINGULAR COMPOSITION OF AQUATIC INSECTS?

• Grant number: 24/12703-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Pitágoras da Conceição Bispo
• Grantee: Gabriel Campagnoli Mesquita
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL-ASSIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Assis. Assis , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms underlying diversity patterns has become one of the main objectives of Ecology. For a comprehensive understanding of biodiversity, it is essential to consider three levels of diversity: alpha, beta and gamma. Beta diversity, in particular, measures the variation in species composition between habitats, being crucial for understanding ecological dynamics. The Local Contribution to Beta Diversity (LCBD) metric quantifies the contribution of each specific location to total beta diversity, identifying areas with unique species compositions. These places, with unique environmental conditions, can harbor unique aquatic insect communities, playing crucial roles in maintaining ecological processes and ecosystem resilience. Our project will investigate the hypothesis that streams with greater environmental uniqueness have a more unique composition of aquatic insects. Habitat and limnological characteristics of 12 headwater streams in two Conservation Units in the state of São Paulo will be analyzed. Aquatic insects were collected using a 250 µm mesh kick-net in sections of rapids. Subsequently, for data analysis, we will use the LCBD metric to calculate environmental and biological uniqueness, and we will evaluate the relationship between them using a Pearson correlation.