Search

Protecting freshwater biodiversity from non-native invasive species and their impacts is crucial for minimising both regional and global deterioration of ecosystem services. The yellow peacock bass Cichla ocellaris, a predatory freshwater fish endemic to the Amazon region, has been translocated within several Neotropical ecoregions, exhibiting harmful effects on biodiversity. In order to facilitate the prioritization of management efforts, which are essential for defining conservation actions in extensive and diverse areas, we propose a risk assessment index that integrates multiple ecological and environmental variables within a comprehensive framework, here applied for C. ocellaris. By considering fish species richness, occurrence frequency, and climate suitability, our index provides a more nuanced understanding of invasion risks. Within regions categorized as high and very high risk, where ecological impacts of C. ocellaris have been extensively documented (e.g., the Southern and North-East Brazilian regions, as well as Central American and Caribbean ecoregions), numerous environments are increasingly conducive to the establishment of this invasive species, exacerbated by a surge in dam constructions. Our analysis projects a significant increase in suitable habitats by 5% to 6.5%, with Southern and Northeastern Brazil and Central America identified as critical zones. Thus, our reproducible risk assessment framework, which considers freshwater ecoregions as conservation units, not only directs effective resource allocation for control measures but also enhances our ability to predict and mitigate the ecological impacts of non-native species introductions, providing a valuable tool for both policymakers and conservationists.

Itaipu Lagoon is located near the mouth of Guanabara Bay and has great importance for recreation to the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. Several studies have documented foraminiferan diversity at Guanabara Bay, but none in Itaipu Lagoon. Therefore, this study lists and provides images of foraminiferal species collected from Itaipu Lagoon. A total of 35 species belonging to 23 genera were collected, grouped in 17 families and four orders. Ammonia tepida was the species with the highest occurrence. This study represents a baseline work for future investigations.

Forest cover changes are influenced by socioeconomic and biophysical dynamics. However, the relative importance of both social and biophysical factors to forest loss and gain remains in debate. Previous research has focused mainly in identifying determinants of deforestation, while less is known regarding forest regrowth, especially in tropical forests. Here we investigated the spatial pattern and determinants of forest cover changes within a landscape which is representative of the biophysical and socioeconomic conditions found in the Atlantic Forest, and also presents an exceptional conservation value within this global biodiversity hotspot. Events of deforestation and regrowth were identified by comparing land cover maps from aerial images taken in 1975 and 2010. We controlled the spatial autocorrelation among events and used a machine learning algorithm and a selection model approach to build linear models explaining forest loss and gain. Main determinants of both forest loss and gain were biophysical factors, although some of they may also reflect socioeconomic underlying processes. Distance from Strictly Protected Areas (SPAs) was the single socioeconomic determinant important to forest change, in loss events. Both deforestation and forest regrowth were strongly associated with forest edges. Deforestation occurred more intensively on concave or flat areas, low solar radiation conditions, near forests, and far from SPAs. Diversely, forest regrowth occurred mostly in high slopes, low elevation areas, high solar radiation and near to forest edges. Our findings reinforce the important role of topography and protected area on forest change, and highlight edge zones are “hotspots” of forest cover dynamics. .

The illegal wildlife trade is one of the main factors of biodiversity loss worldwide. Brazil, the largest country in South America, is a hub of wildlife trafficking, but availability of information on the issue is constrained to specific regions and to Portuguese speakers. Knowledge gaps hinder the establishment of targeted countermeasures in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade. Thousands of animals are seized from IWT and sent to wildlife centers each year. Here, we reviewed the literature on seized songbirds for the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (BAF), a global hotspot of biodiversity. Using a systematic review approach, we compiled a database with all available papers containing seizure records for the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We focused on the 10 most seized species in each study to construct a comprehensive view of the main victims of the illegal trade. We reported 23 studies in 20 locations throughout the BAF. In 19 years, 139,000 passerines were recorded, distributed in 47 species – and two genera – across 10 families. Thraupidae was the most important family, with 27 species in the list and comprising 70% of individuals recorded. We highlighted the preference for granivorous birds and birds deemed good singers. There were few threatened species in the top list, but many of the ones included have population trends of decline, indicating a conservation issue that can direly affect even currently common species if the high demand continues. We appointed knowledge gaps within the Brazilian scenario of wildlife trafficking and provided practical recommendations on the issue considering the global scenario of IWT.

By the end of this century, human-induced climate change and habitat loss may drastically reduce biodiversity, with expected effects on many amphibian lineages. One of these effects is the shift in the geographic distributions of species when tracking suitable climates. Here, we employ a macroecological approach to dynamically model geographic range shifts by coupling ecological niche models and eco-evolutionary mechanisms, aiming to assess the probability of evolutionary rescue (i.e., rapid adaptation) and dispersal under climate change. Evolutionary models estimated the probability of population persistence by adapting to changes in the temperature influenced by precipitation in the following decades, while compensating the fitness reduction and maintaining viable populations in the new climates. In addition, we evaluated emerging patterns of species richness and turnover at the assemblage level. Our approach was able to identify which amphibian populations among 7,193 species at the global scale could adapt to temperature changes or disperse into suitable regions in the future. Without evolutionary adaptation and dispersal, 47.7% of the species could go extinct until the year 2,100, whereas adding both processes will slightly decrease this extinction rate to 36.5%. Although adaptation to climate is possible for populations in about 25.7% of species, evolutionary rescue is the only possibility to avoid extinction in 4.2% of them. Dispersal will allow geographic range shifts for 49.7% of species, but only 6.5% may avoid extinction by reaching climatically suitable environments. This reconfiguration of species distributions and their persistence creates new assemblage-level patterns at the local scale. Temporal beta-diversity across the globe showed relatively low levels of species turnover, mainly due to the loss of species. Despite limitations with obtaining data, our approach provides more realistic assessments of species responses to ongoing climate changes. It shows that, although dispersal and evolutionary rescue may attenuate species losses, they are not enough to avoid a significant reduction of species’ geographic ranges in the future. Actions that guarantee a higher potential of adaptation (e.g., genetic diversity through larger population sizes) and increased connectivity for species dispersion to track suitable climates become essential, increasing the resilience of biodiversity to climate change.

In the middle of a political and fiscal crisis, the Brazilian government is applying successive budget cuts, including in science funding. Recent cuts radically affect research programs on biodiversity that are crucial components for the design and monitoring of public policies for nature conservation and sustainable development. We analyze the consequences of such cuts on the Research Program on Biodiversity (PPBio), the largest biodiversity research network in Brazil (626 researchers, nine networks in all Brazilian biomes). Brazil holds a substantial part of the world's biodiversity and of tropical forests that play a significant role for regional and global climate stability. If underfunding is maintained, the dismantling of the Brazilian PPBio will have consequences that go beyond biodiversity knowledge itself but affect society as a whole. Brazil will likely fail to reach the National Targets for Biodiversity 2011–2020, and it will be difficult to fulfill the restoration target of the Brazilian NDC and to advance with the sustainable development goals.

In the Godineau River Estuary, located in Trinidad Island (off the northeast coast of Venezuela), were found 114 taxa of foraminifera and 17 of thecamoebians in the dead fauna. Most of the identified foraminiferal species were rare because they were transported from the Gulf of Paria to this estuary. The autochthonous foraminiferal assemblage was represented by several tropical estuarine species such as Ammonia tepida, Ammotium salsum, Arenoparrella mexicana, Cribroelphidium excavatum, Ammonia parkinsoniana, Haplophragmoides wilberti, Miliammina fusca and Ammotium cassis. The thecamoebians assemblages, found in the inner part of this estuary, were dominated by Cyclopyxis spp., Centropyxis spp., Difflugia corona and Difflugia urceolata. The relative abundance of the main species of foraminifera and thecamoebians were analyzed through Q-mode and R-mode cluster analyses. Statistical results revealed the presence of three different environments in the Godineau River Estuary related to different hydrodynamic conditions and more or less oceanic or fluvial influence. The first sector represents the most confined region of the estuary and was mainly composed by agglutinated foraminifera together with thecamoebians. The second sector was located in the middle part of the estuary and was associated with the presence of brackish waters. The third sector denotes the outermost part of the estuary characterized by the greatest hydrodynamic activity and highest oceanic influence within the estuary. This sector was marked by the occurrence of a large number typical-marine foraminifera species.

Vermelha Lagoon is a hypersaline shallow transitional ecosystem in the state of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). This lagoon is located in the protected area of Massambaba, between the cities of Araruama and Saquarema (Brazil), and displays two quite uncommon particularities: it exhibits carbonate sedimentation and displays the development of Holocene stromatolites. Due to both particularities, the salt industry and property speculation have been, increasingly, generating anthropic pressures on this ecosystem. This study aims to apply a multiproxy approach to evaluate the trophic state of Vermelha Lagoon based on physicochemical parameters and geochemical data for the quantification and qualification of organic matter (OM), namely total organic carbon (TOC), total sulfur (TS), total phosphorus (TP) and biopolymeric carbon (BPC), including carbohydrates (CHO), lipids (LIP) and proteins (PTN). The CHO/TOC ratio values suggest that OM supplied to the sediment is of autochthonous origin and results, essentially, from microbial activity. The cluster analyses allowed the identification of four regions in Vermelha Lagoon. The Region I included stations located in shallow areas of the eastern sector of Vermelha lagoon affected by the impact of the artificial channel of connection with Araruama Lagoon. The Region II, under the influence of salt pans, is characterized by the highest values of BPC, namely CHO promoted by microbiological activity. The Region III include stations spread through the lagoon with high values of dissolved oxygen and lower values of TP. Stromatolites and microbial mattes growth was observed in some stations of this sector. Region IV, where the highest values of TOC and TS were found, represents depocenters of organic matter, located in general in depressed areas. Results of this work evidences that the Vermelha Lagoon is an eutrophic but alkaline and well oxygenated environment (at both water column and surface sediment) where the autotrophic activity is greater than heterotrophic one. These particular conditions make this a special and rare ecosystem.

Climate, altitude and vegetation are usually considered as limiting factors in plant and animal distribution. Among vertebrates, climate and vegetation have consistently been considered as major determinants of geographical distributions. Here we analyzed the role of climate and the vegetation in limiting the geographical range of Atlantic Forest species of Drymophila Swainson, 1824 and assessed the performance of discriminant analysis to model the distribution of sympatric taxa. From each empirical point (locality) we recorded the values for nine climatic variables and the type of vegetation. The climatic data were obtained from a climate database elaborated by the Laboratório de Vertebrados and vegetation data from the ecoregions digital map of Latin America. The overlap of the climatic distribution map with the ecoregion map suggested that both factors are important in limiting the geographical range of Drymophila species. The discriminant approach, as applied here, was not satisfactory when compared with similar analysis carried out on parapatric species.