Riqueza de peixes e funções ecossistêmicas em habitats estuarinos tropicais

Abstract

The processes that drive the assembly of biological communities are responsible for changes that occur in the composition of species and, consequently, in the ecosystem functions. In estuaries, composition and establishment of species are limited by changes in salinity levels in response to seasonal changes . In addition, the habitat complexity present in these ecosystems provides a functionally mosaic and the movement between habitats and changes in species composition. Thus, we aim to test whether there is functional spatial and temporal complementarity between the beach, mangrove and seagrass habitats in estuaries of the tropical South Atlantic. The species richness and the abundance of the guilds were greater during the rainy season, however, the functional contribution of the estuaries species was greater during the drought and in the mangrove. Functional contribution of trophic guilds also showed differences in relation to rainfall, piscivores and carnivores had greater contribution in rainy periods on the beach. The trajectory of species richness and ecosystem function changed cyclically in the three habitats, influenced mainly by rainfall cycles. In the way there is a loss of species during the dry season and a gain during the rainy season. Estuarine habitats have different functional compositions, thus demonstrating their functional complementarity and the need for and maintaining the connectivity of habitats that maintain the estuarine mosaic.