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| Author(s): |
Mara Patrícia Pais
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | Ribeirão Preto. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (PCARP/BC) |
| Defense date: | 2003-07-11 |
| Examining board members: |
Elenice Mouro Varanda;
Odair Aparecido Fernandes;
Júlio Neil Cassa Louzada;
Alexandre Adalardo de Oliveira;
Benedita Aglai de Oliveira da Silva
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| Advisor: | Elenice Mouro Varanda |
| Abstract | |
In 1998 a recomposition project named "Floresta da USP" was started at the USP campus in Ribeirão Preto, SP, aiming at recovering a 75 ha area with the regional native vegetation, the seasonal semideciduous forest. This study evaluated the main changes that ocurried in this new habitat during the first years after planting, considering the arthropod community and the herbivory relationships as bioindicators. We measured some habitat structure parameters at four sites of different ages, contrasting them to the same parameters measured at a local forest patch. The epigeous arthropod community was compared among sites using multivariate analysis, including several environmental variables. We also monitored the community dynamics of arthropods, herbivory levels and leaf physical chemical caracteristics of six plant species (3 pioneers and 3 late successional) at one of the sites during two years as well as the main leaf variables that could have some effect on the herbivore preferences. Results indicated great chances in the first years of recomposition. Vegetation height, presence of alien grasses, and presence of a third stratum at the forest patch were the principal habitat features related to the epigeous arthropod community. Despite the high dissimilarity, arthropod community of recomposed sites had a tendency of reducing this dissimilarity over time in relation to the forest. Richness, abundance, and diversity of canopy arthropod community were not different between the two years. However, a high species dissimilarity was detected and a strong guild rearrangement concerning abundance from one year to another. There was a high number of species and individuals. Leaf-cutting ants were important to the ecosystem dynamics due to the high levels of herbivory imposed to several plant species. (AU) | |