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| Author(s): |
Hermes Fonseca de Medeiros
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia |
| Defense date: | 2006-02-22 |
| Examining board members: |
Louis Bernard Klaczko;
Flavio Antonio Maës dos Santos;
João Vasconcellos Neto;
Lilian Madi Ravazzi;
Vera Lucia da Silva Valente Gaiesky
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| Advisor: | Louis Bernard Klaczko |
| Abstract | |
The habitats and the characteristics of species influence each other, on a circular causality relationship. It makes studies of distribution of populations among habitats fundamental for the investigation of ecology and evolution. On this thesis are explored the patterns of distribution of forest dwelling Drosophila in São Paulo state (Brazil), as well as its interspecific associations with bionomic and physiologic characteristics. The data about patterns of abundance on natural populations were collected on three sites, belonging to different forest types, as well as from the literature. On each site the sample design was directed to the study of the gradient of distance to streams. The estimation of bionomic and physiologic parameters of species was made in laboratory. The variables studied were: adaptation to low temperatures, adaptation to high temperatures, longevity under starvation, desiccation resistance and developmental time. To the test of interspecific associations among variables it was applied the phylogenetic independent contrasts of Felsenstein. The standardization of sampling and identification methodologies brought some relevant results: the list of species of the state was increased, and the problem of unidentified species was addressed quantitatively, leading to the conclusion that about half of the species from the region are undescribed. The study of patterns on spatial distribution showed that many studied species are more abundant close to streams (23 among 47), while a fell has the opposite pattern (5). Higher abundance close to streams is correlated with restriction to forests, indicating that both patterns have common causes. The patterns on spatial distribution were analyzed on the context of the aggregation model of coexistence. The results suggest that part of variance included on aggregation estimates is caused by environmental heterogeneity, what invalidates the comparison of aggregation and resource partition, presented on same papers. Between 29 and 11 species were studied on the laboratory with respect to bionomic and physiologic characters. The most comprehensive result, on the analyses of association between characteristics of species and their abundance on nature, was that species more abundant close to streams and inside forests are less resistance to desiccation (AU) | |