Influência de fatores espaciais e ambientais na estrutura da comunidade de invertebrados em nascentes tropicais

Abstract

Springs are stable ecosystems, where the water-land connectivity and the complexity of microhabitats allow these environments to support a diverse fauna. Considering the importance of springs in the maintenance of biodiversity of aquatic organisms and their economic and ecological relevance and regarding with the lack of studies in tropical environments, the present study aimed to identify the influence of abiotic variables and spacial factors in the structuring of invertebrate communities in springs through a theoretical ecology approach. Three composite substrate samples (rocks, sand and litter) were obtained from 15 springs in five different areas in the city of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil. A total of 11,239 invertebrates were identified. Helocrenes and rheocrene springs showed greater invertebrate abundance when compared to the limnocrene and the fauna composition differed between the three types of spring studied, which may be explained by the environmental heterogeneity found in helocrenes springs and physical and chemical differences between the different types. Results on the partial redundancy analysis showed that 23% of the total variation of the invertebrate fauna composition was explained through the measured environmental variables, while other 4% was explained by spatial variation; this can be related to the combined effect between mechanisms emphasized by the niche theory and neutral theory, and thus a agreeing with the metacommunities approach. So, we conclude that the environmental factors and space can partially explain the structure of invertebrate communities in springs, with greater importance of the environmental filters, the remainder being possibly explained by the biotic interactions and other non-analyzed variables.