Biodiversity of the metazoan parasites of the species of fishes that are predominant in the Batalha River, middle Tietê River, State of São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and presents the greatest diversity of species among all of the megadiverse countries, contributing with approximately 14% of the world's biota. Currently, the biodiversity of the saltwater and freshwater ecosystems in Latin America have been threatened, mainly by environmental problems resulting from the degradation of ecosystems. One such example is the Batalha River that belongs to the Middle-Tietê Hydrographic Basin, which runs along just about 167 kilometers and is responsible for the water supply of 45% of the inhabitants of Bauru. Its headwaters are located at the Jucutinga Mountain Range (Agudos - SP). The misuse and awful occupancy of the soil by activities developed in its drainage area (monoculture, reforesting and cattle raising) have reduced the native and riparian forests, thus triggering changes in the quality of its waters and exposing the watershed areas to increasingly erosion processes of the land areas adjacent to the river, which lead to the siltation of the river bed, besides polluting its waters. Under another point of view, the parasites of fishes have been pointed out as excellent models for studies of parasite ecology and environmental indicators, considering the fact that the features of the aquatic ecosystem, especially the physical-chemical characteristics of water, influence the composition and structures of parasites communities. Thus, the main objective of this project is to qualitatively and quantitatively diagnose, the parasites communities of six fishes species in two parts of the Batalha River, a river of great importance for the city of Bauru and other regions, which present different limnological characteristics. (AU)