EVALUATION OF FRESHWATER BENTHIC COMMUNITIES: A CASE STUDY IN AN URBAN SOURCE IN THE NORTHEAST OF BRAZIL

The environmental damage suffered by urban water bodies and the need for public water supply result in a greater interest in techniques that enable water treatment in an efficient and ecological way, such as River Bank Filtration (RBF). This technique uses the soil as a filtering medium, as well as the biological activities of organisms that dwell in the Hyporheic Zone (HZ), the zone of interaction between the surface water body and its underlying aquifer. Knowledge of sediments and hyporheic organisms is indispensable to study RBF. The present paper aimed to characterize the HZ of the middle section of Beberibe river (Pernambuco State, Brazil) in its sedimentological and biological aspects, with sampling druing the rainy and dry seasons, in two distinct sampling sites, one in a conserved area and the other in a highly urbanized area. Biological characterization was performed at the level of large taxonomic groups of meiofauna, accounting for 982 individuals, with the three most abundant taxa being Nematoda, Annelida, and Rotifera. Permutational Analysis of Variance (PERMANOVA) statistical tests were performed, showing significant differences for the season and point factors (p < 0.05) in relation to abundance. The highest concentration of individuals and total organic matter were seen in the rainy season, especially at the point located in the urbanized area. With sedimentological characterization by grain size tests of the hyporheic sediments, the predominance of silt was observed during the rainy season, and sandy during the dry season. It was concluded that the main factor that influenced the structure of the meiofauna community was the release of domestic effluents. The information obtained by the present work helps to understand some features of the HZ, which is essential for RBF or other techniques that use the interstitial matrix

A técnica de Filtração em Margem: histórico de aplicação no mundo e experiências brasileiras

A Filtragem em Margem (FM) é uma técnica que consiste na instalação de poços próximos a um manancial superficial e a indução da passagem da água do rio até o poço de produção por meio da diferença de carga hidráulica entre o rio e o lençol freático através da ação de bombeamento. Durante a passagem da água pelo meio poroso, ocorrem processos físicos, químicos e biológicos que melhoram bastante a qualidade da água. Uso e experimentos de FM são cada vez maiores, pois essa técnica é utilizada em muitos países para a melhoria da qualidade de água, por ser eficiente e de custo reduzido. Essa revisão de literatura tem o enfoque de salientar a importância da Filtração em Margem em diversos países ao redor do mundo, no Brasil e em Pernambuco e, consequentemente, mostrar como a FM tem tido respostas positivas mundialmente para o tratamento de água para abastecimento público

NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the Neotropics

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal-central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation-related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data