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The Neotropical region hosts 4225 freshwater fish species, ranking first among the world's most diverse regions for freshwater fishes. Our NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set is the first to produce a large-scale Neotropical freshwater fish inventory, covering the entire Neotropical region from Mexico and the Caribbean in the north to the southern limits in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. We compiled 185,787 distribution records, with unique georeferenced coordinates, for the 4225 species, represented by occurrence and abundance data. The number of species for the most numerous orders are as follows: Characiformes (1289), Siluriformes (1384), Cichliformes (354), Cyprinodontiformes (245), and Gymnotiformes (135). The most recorded species was the characid Astyanax fasciatus (4696 records). We registered 116,802 distribution records for native species, compared to 1802 distribution records for nonnative species. The main aim of the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set was to make these occurrence and abundance data accessible for international researchers to develop ecological and macroecological studies, from local to regional scales, with focal fish species, families, or orders. We anticipate that the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set will be valuable for studies on a wide range of ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, fishery pressure, the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation, and the impacts of species invasion and climate change. There are no copyright restrictions on the data, and please cite this data paper when using the data in publications.

Multimetric indices (MMIs) are common tools used to assess the biological status of ecosystems. However, not all the components of biological integrity have been equally addressed, since most of MMIs do not consider nonnative species, which are a great threat to ecosystems integrity. We performed a systematic review of how nonnative species have been considered in MMIs to assess biological conditions worldwide. Using a systematic review of the literature we identified to what extent nonnative species have been included as a disturbance factor for determining reference conditions and if specific metrics related to both nonnative and native species have been taken into account in the MMIs around the world. We also identified the most frequent species origin metrics that have been included in the MMIs. We searched for articles published in English up to 2016 that applied or developed an MMI in the Web of Science database (Clarivate Analytics). Following the PRISMA guidelines, we analyzed 409 articles. We found that only 1.2% of the studies used nonnative species as a disturbance factor in determining reference conditions. About 66% of articles did not test or did not provide the information if they tested metrics on native or nonnative species. Most of the articles (53%) that tested native or nonnative metrics were fish-based MMIs. We found 97 different metrics, of which 69% were related to native species, whereas 31% were related to nonnative ones. Native richness was the most used metric in studies that considered species origin (23.5%). Our main results evidence that nonnative species are overlooked in biomonitoring programs. Owing to the well-known impacts of them on ecosystem integrity, their inclusion in definition of reference conditions and in MMIs metrics should be considered as bioassessment criteria.

Made available in DSpace on 2020-12-12T02:42:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2020-07-01 Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Protecting riparian vegetation around streams is vital in reducing the detrimental effects of environmental change on freshwater ecosystems and in maintaining aquatic biodiversity. Thus, identifying ecological thresholds is useful for defining regulatory limits and for guiding the management of riparian zones towards the conservation of freshwater biota. Using nationwide data on fish and invertebrates occurring in small Brazilian streams, we estimated thresholds of native vegetation loss in which there are abrupt changes in the occurrence and abundance of freshwater bioindicators and tested whether there are congruent responses among different biomes, biological groups and riparian buffer sizes. Mean thresholds of native vegetation cover loss varied widely among biomes, buffer sizes and biological groups: ranging from 0.5% to 77.4% for fish, from 2.9% to 37.0% for aquatic invertebrates and from 3.8% to 43.2% for a subset of aquatic invertebrates. Confidence intervals for thresholds were wide, but the minimum values of these intervals were lower for the smaller riparian buffers (50 and 100 m) than larger ones (200 and 500 m), indicating that land use should be kept away from the streams. Also, thresholds occurred at a lower percentage of riparian vegetation loss in the smaller buffers, and were critically lower for invertebrates: reducing only 6.5% of native vegetation cover within a 50-m riparian buffer is enough to cross thresholds for invertebrates. Synthesis and applications. The high variability in biodiversity responses to loss of native riparian vegetation suggests caution in the use of a single riparian width for conservation actions or policy definitions nationwide. The most sensitive bioindicators can be used as early warning signals of abrupt changes in freshwater biodiversity. In practice, maintaining at least 50-m wide riparian reserves on each side of streams would be more effective to protect freshwater biodiversity in Brazil. However, incentives and conservation strategies to protect even wider riparian reserves (~100 m) and also taking into consideration the regional context will promote a greater benefit. This information should be used to set conservation goals and to create complementary mechanisms and policies to protect wider riparian reserves than those currently required by the federal law. Departamento de Ecologia Universidade Federal de Goiás (UFG) Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA) Departamento de Biodiversidade Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR) Programa de Pós-Graduação em Tecnologias para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável Universidade Federal de São João Del Rei (UFSJ) Instituto Amazônico de Agriculturas Familiares Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA) Laboratório de Hidrologia Florestal Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz Universidade de São Paulo (USP) Instituto de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA) Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia UNISINOS Departamento de Genética Ecologia e Evolução Instituto de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) Instituto de Geociências Departamento de Geografia Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG) Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação de Ecossistemas Aquáticos Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (UFMT) Centro de Engenharias e Ciências Exatas Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná (UNIOESTE) Laboratório de Sistemática e Ecologia de Insetos Departamento de Ciências Agrárias e Biológicas Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (UFES) Campus de Ciências Exatas e Tecnológicas Universidade Estadual de Goiás (UEG) Departamento de Ecologia Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) Laboratório de Organismos Aquáticos (LOA) Departamento de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (UESC) Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS) Departamento de Entomologia Museu de Entomologia Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV) Instituto de Biociências Letras e Ciências Exatas Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação Departamento de Engenharia Ambiental Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR) Programa de Pós Graduação em Biodiversidade (PPGBC) Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA) Laboratório de Inteligência Artificial Eletrônica de Potência e Sistemas Digitais Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS) Centro Universitário FG (UNIFG) Instituto Federal de Educação Ciencia e Tecnologia do Sul de Minas Gerais (IFSULDEMINAS) Universidade Federal de Alfenas (UNIFAL) Departamento de Biologia Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA) Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Aquáticos Continentais (PEA) Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM) Instituto de Ciências e Tecnologia das Águas Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA) Museu de História Natural Capão da Imbuia (MHNCI) Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa do Pantanal (INPP) Campus Avançado do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG) Laboratório de Ecologia Centro de Estudos em Recursos Naturais (CERNA) Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul (UEMS) Centre for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change and Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Studies College of Marine & Environmental Sciences James Cook University Instituto de Biociências Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) Instituto de Biociências Letras e Ciências Exatas Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) CNPq: 465610/2014-5

A systematic review was conducted to identify trends and gaps in studies concerning nonnative populations in a neotropical floodplain and identify which population ecology topics has been predominant among studies in such floodplains. The large majority of the articles were field observational studies based on nonnative fish populations. A focus on ecological interactions, in particular competition and predation, was predominant in these studies. Hypotheses related to environmental filters and biotic resistance were used most frequently to support studies on river the floodplain, but many studies not addressed the invasion theory. Impoundment was the introduction vector associated with the largest number of studies of nonnative populations. We present conceptual aspects that may guide future studies on nonnative population ecology and inform conservation policies in floodplain ecosystems.

Made available in DSpace on 2019-10-06T16:17:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2019-06-01 Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Climate change threatens freshwater fish by severely modifying water quality and hydrological dynamics, hence altering the species distribution. We assessed the climate change effects on the geographical distribution of Salminus brasiliensis, a keystone species of economic interest in the La Plata River basin. Using ecological niche models, we estimated the species range in the present time and assessed the range shift phenomena through climatically suitable areas in the future. We also quantified the predictive uncertainty from niche models, atmosphere–ocean general circulation models, and carbon emission scenarios. Our predictions indicated a great range contraction of S. brasiliensis in the future. The south-central portion of the basin should retain the climate refuge function for the species at 2050. Nonetheless, the segregation of this climate refuge in two smaller parts was predicted at the end of the century. Our study also revealed that the greatest source of uncertainty in forecasts of species range shifts arises from using alternative niche algorithms in modeling process. Our results contribute to more effective measures for conservation of S. brasiliensis, thus helping to ensure the ecosystem processes and socioeconomic activities in the basin dependent on this species. Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia de Ambientes Aquáticos Continentais. Núcleo de Pesquisas em Limnologia Ictiologia e Aquicultura - Nupelia Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), Av. Colombo 5790 Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia – Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora Instituto de Ciências Biológicas- ICB, Campus Universitário, Bairro São Pedro Departamento de Zoologia Instituto de Biociências de Rio Claro Universidade Estadual Júlio Mesquita Filho – UNESP Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Evolução Universidade Federal de Goiás Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul – UEMS Departamento de Zoologia Instituto de Biociências de Rio Claro Universidade Estadual Júlio Mesquita Filho – UNESP CNPq: 141371/2016-1

Brazilian citizens and decision-makers must consider the consequences of such bills for Brazilian national parks and make their concerns about irreversible environmental impacts known to policymakers.

Aim In this paper we present a scientometric analysis aimed at to assess and quantify the contribution of Le Cren’s condition factor and the main ideas advanced by ‘Le Cren, 1951’ to studies on the health of individuals or populations in aquatic environments. Specifically, we addressed the following questions: (i) what are the temporal and spatial citation trends of ‘Le Cren, 1951’?; (ii) Which journals cited ‘Le Cren, 1951’ most frequently?; (iii) In which types of aquatic environments and organisms have Le Cren’s condition factor been most commonly applied?; (iv) Which of the main applications addressed in ‘Le Cren, 1951’ have been most frequently used by fisheries scientists?; (v) Which of the methods (i.e., Quételet’s index or body mass index, Fulton’s condition factor, Le Cren’s condition factor, relative weight, residual index and scaled mass index) used to estimate condition factor identified in the papers that cited ‘Le Cren, 1951’ have been most frequently used? In addition, the main criticisms of the use of the relative condition factor are discussed. Methods We carried out a scientometric analysis on the papers published from 1951 to December 2015 that cited Le Cren’s article. The papers were obtained from the Thomson Reuters database (ISI Web of Knowledge, apps.isiknowledge.com) in May 2016. Results In total, 1128 papers were assessed. The number of citations increased significantly over time. Most citations occurred in two journals (Journal of Fish Biology and Journal of Applied Ichthyology). Most of papers were carried out in marine environments. In addition, we show that Le Cren's paper has been cited mainly in articles that estimate the condition factor or the weight-length relationship of populations. Finally, we emphasize that the relative condition factor proposed by Le Cren in 1951 is still the main method used to estimate the body condition of an individual or population. Conclusions Le Cren's significant contribution to animal well-being is undeniable, and we emphasize that among the methods identified in the papers that cited ‘Le Cren, 1951’ that estimated body condition, the relative condition factor proposed by Le Cren in 1951 is still the most commonly used method.

The use of multimetric indices (MMIs) became a common practice for evaluating ecological integrity of aquatic ecosystems. However, most developed MMIs ignore non-native species as an impact source to establish reference conditions. We developed an MMI to identify if non-native fish species are associated with Neotropical stream integrity by considering the presence of non-native species as an impact source. We calculated and evaluated responsiveness to the presence of non-native species using fish metrics, which were selected with a bootstrap procedure. Streams for calibration and validation were also selected with a bootstrap procedure. From the candidate MMIs generated, we selected models with different combinations of fish metrics. The generated MMIs presented a satisfactory performance in distinguishing reference streams from those impacted by non-native species. The abundance of non-native species was highly correlated with urbanization and seems to be more important than urbanization to drive native abundance loss. Our study is one of the first attempts to develop MMIs in which non-native species are considered as impact sources and used to identify impacted and reference sites. The final MMI that we developed might be a useful tool for aquatic biodiversity conservation and the development and application of non-native species control actions.

We developed MMI models that combine responses of fish and benthic macroinvertebrates for the evaluation of the biotic integrity of streams. The MMI was developed using a dataset covering stream sampling sites in the South of Brazil. Reference streams were identified based on the physical and chemical conditions and riparian vegetation. Thirty-four metrics were calculated and evaluated for their range, redundancy, and responsiveness to the environmental perturbation. We applied a robust approach to select the most sensitive metrics and MMI models based on the complexity and ability of the index in distinguishing impacted and reference sites. The four best MMI models selected are composed of different combinations of the eight metrics: % fish herbivorous, fish evenness, fish abundance, % macroinvertebrate shredder; % macroinvertebrate predator; % macroinvertebrate tolerant, % macroinvertebrate swimmer, and % macroinvertebrate burrower. All of the MMI models selected presented good performance in distinguishing reference streams from those impacted by different forms of land use. This study is one of the few attempts to use more than one biological assemblage in a single-multimetric index. Accordingly, we believe that the unified MMI we developed could be a useful tool to assist in the conservation and management of water resources in Neotropical regions, specially, in the implementation of ecological integrity tools more cost-effectively.

The use of multimetric indices (MMIs) of biological condition has been globally applied because they are practical tools that incorporate various biological metrics at different levels of ecological organization. However, the methods for developing and evaluating MMIs have been criticized. We reviewed the scientific literature to assess global processes for MMI creation and validation. We found a lack of common criteria for metric selection and determination of reference conditions, which hinders making comparable assessments across different programs and regions as well as for developing or refining future MMIs. We also present the ten metrics most commonly used in MMIs worldwide. Finally, we determined that differentiating natural variability from anthropogenic impacts is the major challenge in creating and applying MMIs. We offer our review to further the advancement and improvement of MMIs as standard bioassesment tools.

Considerando a necessidade de monitoramento das águas subterrâneas utilizadas para o consumo humano, este estudo avaliou a qualidade da água de poços artesianos rurais, localizados no Assentamento Pedro Ramalho, Mundo Novo, Mato Grosso do Sul. Amostras de água foram obtidas em janeiro/2012 e setembro/2013, em dois poços artesianos. Foram determinados parâmetros físico-químicos (alumínio, cobre, cor, cloreto, cromo total, ferro, fluoreto, manganês, nitrito, pH, sólidos dissolvidos totais, sulfato e zinco) e microbiológico (NMP de coliformes totais e de coliformes termotolerantes, bactérias heterotróficas e Escherichia coli) para os dois poços. Os valores registrados para cada parâmetro foram confrontados com os limites estabelecidos pela legislação brasileira. Apenas a água do Poço 1 apresentou valores de pH inferiores ao estabelecido pela Portaria no 2914/2011 e valores de manganês acima do valor máximo permitido pela Resolução CONAMA nº 396. Os demais parâmetros atenderam os valores limites preconizados pelas legislações. Os resultados apresentados evidenciam a necessidade de monitoramento continuo da água dos poços artesianos do Assentamento Pedro Ramalho, uma vez que foram registradas irregularidades que inspiram preocupações à saúde pública dos moradores.

In 1981, James R. Karr's paper ‘Assessment of biotic integrity using fish communities’ provided the first description of a multimetric procedure to assess the biotic integrity of aquatic ecosystems. To assess the contribution of the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) and ideas proposed by Karr for the management of aquatic ecosystems, we carried out a scientometric analysis of the papers published from 1981 to 2011 that cited Karr's study. The papers were obtained from Thomson Reuters’ database (ISI Web of Knowledge) in October 2011. We used all papers that cited ‘ Karr, 1981 ’ to assess temporal trends in citations and to identify which journals cited the index most frequently. A total of 93 papers were selected from the two journals that most frequently cited Karr's study, namely Hydrobiologia and Ecological Indicators . For each paper selected, we determined whether the study was empirical, theoretical, or methodological. For empirical papers we assessed the type of environment where the study was carried out, the indicator organisms used, and whether the IBI was applied. To identify which ideas suggested by Karr have been discussed in the literature, we assessed all papers found. In the time frame studied, 734 papers cited ‘ Karr, 1981 ’. The number of citations increased significantly with time. Most papers that cited ‘ Karr, 1981 ’ were empirical, carried out in rivers and streams, and used fish as bioindicators. The main ideas discussed in these studies were related to the creation and use of the IBI, as well as to limitations and difficulties in its application. Our results suggest that the ideas proposed by Karr have contributed to the conservation of aquatic ecosystems. However, criteria for choosing different metrics, as well as the definition of reference conditions, are issues that need to be addressed in order to make the IBI a more robust index.

A piscicultura é uma alternativa econômica emergente no Brasil. No Estado de Mato Grosso do Sul as condições hidrológicas e climáticas contribuem para o desenvolvimento dessa atividade, a qual proporciona rendimento aos pequenos e grandes produtores. Por ser uma atividade que depende dos recursos naturais, é considerada potencialmente poluidora, de forma que é necessário que seja tutelada por instrumentos legais para alcançar desenvolvimento produtivo e, principalmente, a proteção ambiental. O licenciamento ambiental é um instrumento que autoriza a prática dessas atividades, pois estabelece regras e medidas que visam minimizar os impactos ao ambiente. Os objetivos deste trabalho foram identificar a aplicação do licenciamento ambiental no município de Mundo Novo – Mato Grosso do Sul - e diagnosticar possíveis problemas que dificultam a sua obtenção. Além disso, objetivou-se verificar o nível de informação dos piscicultores a respeito desse instrumento e dos possíveis impactos ambientais, bem como a existência de apoio técnico e subsídios para a expansão da atividade. Para a coleta de dados, foram realizadas visitas às propriedades com aplicação de um questionário estruturado com 37 questões subdivididas em relação aos temas voltados à caracterização geral da piscicultura e ao licenciamento ambiental. Os resultados demonstraram que todos os piscicultores possuem licença, porém a grande maioria desconhece o que isso representa realmente, além disso desconhecem os impactos ambientais, provenientes da piscicultura. Os resultados evidenciaram ainda que o maior entrave na obtenção desse instrumento é a morosidade na emissão de licenças que está relacionada diretamente à centralização de competência e processos e, ainda, à insuficiência de profissionais capacitados.

The biomonitoring of aquatic ecosystems in developing countries faces several limitations, especially related to gathering resources. The present study aimed at comparing the responses of fish and benthic macroinvertebrates to environmental change, to identify which group best indicates the differences between reference and impacted streams in southern Brazil. We determined reference and impacted sites based on physical and chemical variables of the water. For the analysis and comparison of biological responses, we calculated 22 metrics and submitted them to a discriminant analysis. We selected from this analysis only six metrics, which showed that the two studied assemblages respond differently to environmental change. A larger number of metrics were selected for macroinvertebrates than for fish in the separate analysis. The metrics selected for macroinvertebrates in the pooled analysis (i.e., fish and macroinvertebrates together) were different from those selected in the separate analysis for macroinvertebrates alone. However, the metrics selected for fish in the pooled analysis were the same selected in the separate analysis for fish alone. The macroinvertebrate assemblage was more effective for distinguishing reference from impacted sites. We suggest the use of macroinvertebrates as bioindicators of Neotropical streams, especially in situations in which time and money are short.