Taxonomic and functional turnover of Amazonian stream fish assemblages is determined by deforestation history and environmental variables at multiple scales

Author(s)

Brejao, Gabriel L. ^[1] ; Hoeinghaus, David J. ^{[2, 3]} ; Roa-Fuentes, Camilo A. ^[4] ; Perez-Mayorga, Maria Angelica ^[4] ; Ferraz, Silvio F. B. ^[5] ; Casatti, Lilian ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho UN, Dept Zool & Bot, R Cristovao Colombo 2265, BR-15054000 Sao Jose Do Rio Preto, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ North Texas, Dept Biol Sci, 1155 Union Circle 310559, Denton, TX 76203 - USA

^[3] Univ North Texas, Adv Environm Res Inst, 1155 Union Circle 310559, Denton, TX 76203 - USA

^[4] UPTC, Escuela Ciencias Biol, Ave Cent Norte 39-115, Tunja 150003, Boyaca - Colombia

^[5] Univ Sao Paulo, Escola Super Agr Luiz de Queiroz, Av Padua Dias 11, BR-13418900 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Neotropical Ichthyology; v. 19, n. 3 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 1

Abstract

Abstract High rates of deforestation, either in the past or the present, affect many of the ecological processes in streams. Integrating deforestation history and the current landscape structure enhances the evaluation of ecological effects of land-use change. This is especially true when contemporary landscape conditions are similar but the temporal path to those conditions differs. One approach that has shown promise for evaluating biodiversity responses over time and space is the β-diversity partitioning, which combines taxonomic and functional trait-based approaches. We tested hypotheses related to stream fish assemblages’ turnover in watersheds with different environmental conditions and deforestation histories. We sampled fish from 75 watersheds in the Machado River basin, Brazil, and environmental factors were quantified at multiple scales. Taxonomic turnover was higher than expected by chance, whereas functional turnover was lower than expected by the observed taxonomic turnover, indicating that deterministic processes are structuring these assemblages. The turnover, and the environmental factors differed among watersheds with different deforestation histories. Besides being scale-dependent, turnover patterns are also likely dependent on land use dynamics and involve time-lags. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 10/17494-8 - Terra firme stream fish from Rio Machado Basin, RO
• Grantee: Lilian Casatti
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 12/21916-0 - Relationships among the deforestation process and the fish diversity patterns at Western Amazon streams
• Grantee: Gabriel Lourenço Brejão
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 09/12318-0 - The role of secondary vegetation on biodiversity and water conservation in central Rondônia
• Grantee: Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 18/11954-9 - Fluvial networks as landscape connectors: does the riparian connection quality influence patterns on stream fish diversity?
• Grantee: Gabriel Lourenço Brejão
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 15/05827-6 - Relationships between the deforestation process and the fish diversity patterns at Western Amazon streams
• Grantee: Gabriel Lourenço Brejão
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate