CONGRUENCES AND DISCREPANCIES IN REGIONALIZATION ANALYZES USING DIFFERENT DATABASES

• Grant number: 24/17171-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Theoretical Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Fernando Rodrigues da Silva
• Grantee: Giovanna Chaves Zillete
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias para a Sustentabilidade (CCTS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). Sorocaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Since the 19th century, research has involved dividing large geographic areas into regions characterized by similar faunal or floristic compositions. This approach, known as biogeographic regionalization or ecoregions, has been crucial for understanding whether the factors influencing species distribution are due to shared evolutionary histories, physical barriers that limit dispersal between regions, or past and present climate variations. Although the outcomes of these regionalizations can differ based on the datasets used, studies that examine the agreements and discrepancies between biogeographic regions derived from various databases are limited. In this project, I will employ a network clustering method available in the Infomap Bioregions web application to conduct a regionalization analysis using two distinct bird datasets from the Atlantic Forest: (i) bird occurrence records collected over time throughout the Atlantic Forest, sourced from the public databases GBIF (The Global Biodiversity Information Facility, https://www.gbif.org) and eBird (www.ebird.org), and (ii) distribution polygons (range maps) available from the BirdLife International database (https://datazone.birdlife.org/). Through this analysis, I aim to provide valuable insights for guiding regionalization studies and suggest methodological guidelines to enhance the reliability and applicability of the results.