Full text
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| Author(s): |
Caio Ribeiro Pimentel
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto Oceanográfico (IO/DIDC) |
| Defense date: | 2012-09-21 |
| Examining board members: |
Lucy Satiko Hashimoto Soares;
Carlos Eduardo Leite Ferreira;
Virginia Sanches Uieda
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| Advisor: | Lucy Satiko Hashimoto Soares |
| Abstract | |
The identification of the trophic groups is fundamental to understanding the factors responsible for organizing and structuring the communities. Accordingly, the present study was conducted in the tidepools of Praia dos Castelhanos, located in the Espírito Santo State, southeastern Brazil, in order to describe the trophic organization of the fish community, under the assumption that this organization is influenced by the environmental variables of the pools. Samples were collected at six tidepools, in quarterly campaigns between 2005 and 2007. The description of the composition of the diets was based on the Feeding Index values of the food items of twelve species representative of the environment. The main items of the diets were benthic crustaceans, mainly copepods and amphipods, algae, basically turf algae, and errant polychaetes. Through cluster analysis from the values of the Feeding Index of food items that comprising the diet of each species and using the similarity index of Bray-Curtis, eight trophic groups were identified, five of carnivorous species, two of omnivorous and one of herbivorous. It is proposed that the main factors related to the formation of these trophic groups are the species convergence in the use of abundant food resources and variation in primary prey depending on the size of the predator, differences in microhabitat and trophic specialization of the species. The results of the canonical correlation analysis allowed relating the distribution of trophic groups in the tidepools with both the physicochemical conditions and the interaction between the availability of micro-habitats and the ecological relationships between the species. It is concluded that the trophic organization of the tidepool fish community of Praia dos Castelhanos is actually influenced by the environmental characteristics of the pools. (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 10/03333-2 - Trophic organization of a tidepool fish community from the western tropical Atlantic |
| Grantee: | Caio Ribeiro Pimentel |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Master |