Relationships between the deforestation process and the fish diversity patterns at Western Amazon streams

Abstract

The streams of the Neotropical region harbor a small-sized fish fauna, frequently with limited geographical distribution and, generally, highly dependent on riparian vegetation for feeding, shelter and reproduction. The watershed native vegetation removal is one among several modifications, which effects on aquatic environments are not completely understood yet. The knowledge of deforestation history along with current landscape structure enhances the power of analysis to evaluate ecological deforestation effects. Moreover, distinct ways of deforestation process might affect the fish community composition and functioning. The Machado river basin in Rondônia is an important basin of Amazon region, prone to exhibit high diversity and endemism; presents a recent history of high deforestation and land use intensification, which can cause profound changes in aquatic environments. Thus, the aim of this proposal is to understand how the deforestation process affects the ichthyofauna, as well as to find the consequences of this process on fish alpha (±), beta (²) and functional diversity patterns.