Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Diversidade de presas e predadores (Insecta) em mesohabitats de córregos de Cerrado

ABSTRACT Tropical streams feature high variety of habitats and environmental gradients, which reflect on the greater richness of aquatic insects. In this way, we evaluate if the diversity of aquatic insects of prey and predator categories is influenced by the type of substrates or by longitudinal portions in Cerrado streams. Our hypothesis is that prey and predator diversity will be determined by the type of substrate, assuming that the substrate serves as a source for foraging and / or refuge. In addition, the folhiço substrate will present greater abundance and richness due to the availability of shelter and food provided by this type of substrate. There will be differences in prey and predator composition among substrates, since some species have associations with the substrate type. The portions of the stream will have no effect on the diversity of prey and predator, since in streams of up to third order does not present considerable changes in physical characteristics. The study was carried out in nascent (1st order), intermediate (2nd) and estuary (3rd), in two streams, during dry and rainy periods. Five subsamples of sand, gravel, rocks or boulders were collected, backwaters, rapids and roots (substrate). The substrate influenced all prey and predator responses (abundance, richness and composition), but the environment (longitudinal portions) did not influence the abundance and predator composition. The influence of substrates on the diversity of prey and predators evidences the importance of riparian vegetation as a source of allochthonous material in bedside streams

Spatiotemporal dynamics in caddisfly (Insecta: Trichoptera) of a Cerrado stream, Brazil

Knowing the patterns and mechanisms that regulate spatiotemporal dynamics in aquatic communities is a great challenge. Theoretically, the distribution of aquatic insects is related to food and shelter availability, and/or to dispersal. In this perspective, we analyzed the spatiotemporal variation of Trichoptera communities of a Cerrado stream for 3 years. The longitudinal and temporal distribution provided a good explanation of the variation of the Trichoptera species composition. Specifically, 21.4 and 11.5% of the variation in composition was explained by longitudinal and temporal variation, respectively, and 8.3% by the interaction of both factors. The variation of environmental conditions (pH, total dissolved solids and dissolved oxygen) and temporal autocorrelation were the most important predictors for the distribution of Trichoptera communities. Accordingly, it is possible to assume that seasonal variation throughout the year is also an important factor for this aquatic community, in addition to water quality, as is widely known. Therefore, climate change should affect both temporal and spatial patterns of Trichoptera communities present in Cerrado streams. Consequently, such effect should be expected to occur in other regions with more marked seasons.The longitudinal distribution (along the stream) is more important than the temporal variation (along the seasons) to explain the variations of the composition of Thichoptera species in streams of the Brazilian Cerrado