Uma das mais relevantes perspectivas que buscam explicar como as comunidades ecológicas se organizam é a teoria do nicho, que se divide em duas linhas de pesquisa com filosofias opostas. A primeira enfatiza que diferenças nas características funcionais de organismos permitem sua coexistência, enquanto que a segunda avalia até que ponto membros de uma mesma comunidade tendem a exibir similaridade em seus atributos funcionais. Uma variedade de métodos analíticos tem sido desenvolvida para avaliar mecanismos ligados a cada um dos processos. Explorando o padrão de distribuição de atributos de comunidades, a limitação de similaridade resulta em divergência de atributos, enquanto a ação local de filtros ambientais em geral produz convergência de atributos. Nesse sentido, o método para discriminação de padrões de organização por convergência ou por divergência de atributos no contexto de metacomunidades é de grande valor. Nesta dissertação, tal abordagem é utilizada para a avaliação de padrões de convergência e de divergência de atributos de plantas arbóreas juvenis em manchas florestais. Não incluímos informação filogenética ou de espécies a fim de avaliarmos até que ponto uma abordagem plenamente funcional pode explicar padrões de comunidades. O trabalho foi desenvolvido na Serra do Sudeste do RS, que consiste em um mosaico campo-floresta relativamente bem conservado. Algo instigante na Serra do Sudeste é a presença das coníferas Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze e Podocarpus lambertii Klotzsch ex Endl. em várias manchas florestais, espécies reconhecidas como características da Floresta com Araucária do Planalto Sul-Brasileiro. Tal ocorrência vem sendo discutida há muitas décadas na literatura, mas nenhum estudo ecológico feito nessas áreas foi publicado ainda. Assim, nesta dissertação, tive como objetivos avançar na teoria relacionada à organização de comunidades e obter dados de qualidade para a avaliação continuada da dinâmica ecológica por trás dos mosaicos campo-floresta com presença de A. angustifolia na Serra do Sudeste. Os resultados encontrados revelaram padrões tanto de convergência quanto de divergência de atributos. A abordagem inteiramente funcional utilizada neste trabalho foi muito útil para a inferência de prováveis mecanismos de nicho envolvidos na organização das comunidades de árvores juvenis. Nós defendemos que a análise de dados de atributos referentes ao nível de indivíduos em um contexto de metacomunidades é a melhor maneira de explorar diretamente como a convergência e a divergência de atributos realmente se comporta ao longo de um dado gradiente. Com relação ao limite austral da distribuição de Araucaria angustifolia, caso as áreas da Serra do Sudeste sejam consideradas nativas, haveria uma ocorrência disjunta da espécie e, talvez, do tipo vegetacional Floresta com Araucária. Esse tema é especialmente importante no que concerne a uma possível migração da espécie ou mesmo da flora típica da formação rumo ao sul, ou alternativamente a uma possível evidência remanescente de que a espécie ou mesmo de que a formação tenham ocorrido continuamente até essas latitudes, talvez há centenas de milhares de anos atrás. A resolução desse mistério, entretanto, provavelmente só seja alcançada através de estudos paleopolínicos e genéticos. De qualquer forma, tais áreas devem ser protegidas, já que seu desconhecimento por grande parte da comunidade científica facilita a negligência de sua conservação. / Ecologists have considered niche theory one of the most relevant perspectives attempting to explain ecological community assembly. It is divided in two research programs with opposed philosophies. The first emphasises that differences in functional attributes of organisms enable their coexistence, whereas the second evaluate to which extent members of a same community tend to exhibit similarity regarding their functional traits. A variety of analytical methods have been developed for assessing mechanisms related to each of these processes. By exploring the trait distribution pattern in communities, it is generally accepted that the local action of environmental filters generates a pattern of trait convergence, whereas limiting similarity leads to trait divergence. In this sense, the method for discriminating traitconvergence and trait-divergence assembly patterns in the metacommunity context is of great value. In this dissertation, such approach is used for evaluating convergence and divergence patterns of tree sapling traits in forest patches in the Serra do Sudeste region of Rio Grande do Sul state, southern Brazil. We did not include phylogenetic or species identity information in the analysis since we wanted to evaluate to which extent an entirely functional approach could explain community patterns. The study was carried out in Serra do Sudeste, which consists of a forest-grassland mosaic relatively well conserved. Something puzzling in Serra do Sudeste is the presence of conifers such as Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze and Podocarpus lambertii Klotzsch ex Endl. in several forest patches. These species are characteristic of the Araucaria forest occurring in the South-Brazilian Plateau. Such occurrence has been matter of a long-lasting debate in the regional literature, but no ecological study done in these areas has been published yet. In this dissertation I aimed at advancing on the theoretical bases of community assembly and at gathering data for continuously evaluating the ecological dynamics of the forest-grassland mosaics with presence of A. angustifolia in Serra do Sudeste. The results revealed both trait convergence and divergence patterns, which indicated mechanisms for the assembly of tree sapling communities. The entirely functional approach applied here was very useful to infer probable mechanisms underlying community assembly. We argue that the use of individual-based trait information in a metacommunity context is the best way to directly explore how trait convergence and trait divergence behave along a given gradient. With regard to the austral boundary of Araucaria angustifolia distribution, if the patches of Serra do Sudeste are considered native, there would be a disjunct occurrence of the species and perhaps of the vegetational type Araucaria forest. This issue is especially important regarding a possible migration of the species or even of the typical associated flora southwards, or alternatively, regarding a possible relict evidence that the species had continuously occurred along such latitudes in a remote past. Nonetheless, the resolution of this puzzle probably only will be achieved through genetic and paleopollen studies. Anyway, such areas must be protected as their omission in important scientific studies facilitates the negligence of their conservation.

Orientador: Flavio Antonio Maes dos Santos / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T20:45:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Virillo_CarolinaBernucci_D.pdf: 2082404 bytes, checksum: 73a7c246ad5ac8eccbc8fcf39ee5364b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: Os mecanismos responsáveis pela alta diversidade de espécies arbóreas em florestas tropicais têm sido alvo de intenso debate na literatura, e dentre os inúmeros mecanismos propostos, dois deles têm encontrado relativo suporte empírico: a dependência de densidade e a diferenciação de nichos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi investigar a ocorrência destes mecanismos na Floresta Ombrófila Densa Atlântica, que apresenta uma enorme diversidade de espécies vegetais, que variam em abundância, e uma grande diversidade de habitats, o que faz deste bioma um local apropriado para buscar evidências da ocorrência desses mecanismos. Foi investigada a influência da densidade de coespecíficos, da vizinhança e do microhábitat na demografia de quatro espécies arbóreas, e esperava-se que estes fatores atuassem de maneira conjunta na determinação da demografia das espécies estudadas. Em cinco áreas de 0,25 ha, duas na Floresta Ombrófila Densa de Terras Baixas (TB) e três na Floresta Ombrófila Densa Submontana (SM), foram marcados e medidos os indivíduos destas espécies, e um recenso foi realizado após dois anos para obtenção de taxas de mortalidade e recrutamento. Indivíduos com PAP (perímetro a altura do peito) > 15 cm foram acompanhados mensalmente para a avaliação da fenologia reprodutiva e do incremento diamétrico. Foi avaliada a influência da densidade de indivíduos e da distância e número de vizinhos coespecíficos na demografia das espécies. Também foi avaliada a relação da demografia com habitats específicos, dados pela declividade e pela porcentagem de abertura de dossel, assim como da fenologia reprodutiva e do incremento diamétrico com a cota de altitude e com o índice de iluminação da copa (IC). Para nenhuma das espécies estudadas foi encontrada relação entre a densidade total de indivíduos e as taxas de mortalidade e de recrutamento. Entretanto, nas áreas de maior abundância, foram encontradas associações entre os indivíduos mortos e os demais indivíduos da população, assim como diminuição da agregação conforme se considera classes de tamanho maiores, que podem ser interpretadas como evidências dos processos dependentes de densidade, indicando que os processos dependentes de distância ou densidade só se mostram importantes em situações de densidade elevada. Houve relação do número de indivíduos com a declividade para a maioria das espécies, mas foram poucas as relações significativas com a abertura de dossel. A mortalidade, o recrutamento e o crescimento dos indivíduos com PAP < 15 cm apresentaram poucas relações significativas com as variáveis ambientais (IDP e abertura do dossel), provavelmente devido ao baixo número de eventos registrados. Para duas das espécies, a fenologia reprodutiva se relacionou com a cota de altitude, mas não com o IC, indicando um aspecto da preferência de hábitat. Já o incremento diamétrico variou muito dentro de uma mesma cota altitudinal, se relacionando, para duas das espécies, com o IC, mas para as outras duas espécies nem a altitude e nem a iluminação das suas copas explicou a variação observada no crescimento. Recomenda-se que um maior número de variáveis ambientais sejam utilizadas para caracterizar os microambientes quando se busca evidências de preferências de hábitat. É provável que os mecanismos estudados não sejam mutuamente exclusivos e que eles atuem em conjunto na determinação dos processos demográficos populacionais, e assim influenciando conjuntamente na manutenção da grande diversidade de espécies arbóreas em florestas tropicais. / Abstract: The mechanisms that are responsible for the high tree species diversity in tropical forests have been intensively debated on literature, and among the several proposed mechanisms, two of them have been relatively empirically supported: the density-dependence and the niche differentiation. The aim of this work was to investigate the occurrence of these mechanisms on the Atlantic Ombrophilous Dense Forest, that has a huge plant species diversity, that vary on their abundance, and a high diversity of habitats, what makes this biome an appropriate place to seek for the existence of these mechanisms. We investigated the influence of conspecific density, neighborhood and microhabitat on the demography of four tree species, and we expected these factors to act together on determining the demography of the studied species. On five 0.25 ha area, two on the Lowland Ombrophilous Dense Forest and three on the Lower-montane Ombrophilous Dense Forest, we tagged and measured all the plants of the studied species; the plants were re-censused after two years so we obtained the mortality and recruitment rates. Plants with perimeter at breast height (PBH) > 15 cm were monthly observed to evaluate their reproductive phenology and diameter increment. We evaluated the influence of the density of plants and the number and distance of conspecific neighbors on the demography of the studied species. We also evaluated the relationship of the demographic rates with specific habitats, given by canopy openness and declivity, and of the reproductive phenology and diameter increment with the altitude and the crown illumination index (IC). We found no relationship between the total density of individuals and the mortality or recruitment rates, but on the areas of high abundance we found associations between the dead plants and the other plants of the populations, as well as lower aggregation as we considered bigger size classes, which could be interpreted as evidences of the density dependent processes, indicating that the density or distance-dependent processes are important only on high density situations. We found significant relationships between the number of individuals and declivity for the majority of species, but there were few significant associations with the canopy openness. Mortality, growth and recruitment of plants PBH < 15 cm have few significant correlations with environmental variables (declivity and canopy openness), probably because of the low number of events registered. For two of the studied species, the reproductive phenology was related to the altitude but not with IC, indicating one aspect of the habitat preference. The diameter increment showed great variation on the same altitude, and for two species it was related with IC, but for the other two neither the altitude nor the IC explained the observed variation on growth. We recommend the use of more environmental variables to characterize the microenvironments when seeking for evidence of habitat preference. It's possible that the studied mechanisms are not mutually exclusive and that they act together on determining the demographic processes, and so, influencing together the maintenance of the high tree species diversity on tropical forests. / Doutorado / Mestre em Biologia Vegetal

Orientadores: Paulo Inácio de Knegt López de Prado, Emerson Monteiro Vieira / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T00:11:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paise_Gabriela_D.pdf: 1506226 bytes, checksum: 2321b37857a637b42de135349a06edea (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo : Os efeitos negativos da fragmentação de habitats sobre pequenos mamíferos são amplamente reconhecidos. Entretanto, a intensidade desses efeitos depende de diversos fatores como o padrão de fragmentação, a escala avaliada, a permeabilidade de diferentes tipos de matrizes e a plasticidade comportamental de diferentes grupos de espécies. Neste estudo avaliamos os efeitos da fragmentação, em uma paisagem extremamente fragmentada de Mata Atlântica, na comunidade de pequenos mamíferos (i) através do uso diferencial de habitats pela comunidade e por guildas de espécies que usam habitats florestais, áreas abertas ou ambos (generalistas); (ii) através dos padrões de utilização de micro-habitats; (iii) através da similaridade na utilização da paisagem, entre sexos e espécies generalistas de habitat, em diferentes escalas espaciais. Nós utilizamos armadilhas de intercepção e queda em seis sítios de amostragem, nos quais avaliamos cinco habitats: floresta com rio, floresta sem rio, borda de floresta, matriz de pasto com rio e matriz de pasto sem rio. Nós detectamos que o habitat mais antrópico e inóspito, a matriz sem rio, suportou menor abundância de espécies. As guildas de espécies responderam diferentemente aos habitats da paisagem. Houve menor tolerância das espécies florestais ao habitat matriz sem rio. Até mesmo as espécies generalistas sofrem os efeitos negativos da matriz sem rio, diminuindo em abundância. Um pequeno aumento na estrutura da vegetação, como observado nas matrizes ripárias, mitigam o efeito negativo da matriz, tornando a abundância, riqueza e diversidade da matriz com rio comparável aos habitats florestais. A riqueza e abundância das guildas de espécies associadas à macro-habitats foram em geral influenciadas pela estrutura da vegetação em escala de micro-habitats e revelam um alto grau de especificidade de micro e macro-habitat. Esta especificidade mostra que, mesmo em paisagens altamente fragmentadas e alteradas, não ocorre a invasão das áreas florestais pela guilda de espécies de áreas abertas e que guildas de espécies florestais são incapazes de utilizar micro-habitats extremamente modificados. Nossos resultados indicam que a similaridade na utilização da paisagem varia entre espécies e sexos, entre diferentes escalas espaciais e pode ser fortemente dependente do padrão de fragmentação. O manejo das paisagens fragmentadas requer a existência de matrizes permeáveis, como a matriz de pasto com rio, as quais poderão funcionar como habitats potenciais, diminuindo a divisão da paisagem e facilitando a manutenção da comunidade original na paisagem fragmentada. / Abstract: The negative effects of habitat fragmentation on small-mammals are widely recognized. Nevertheless, the intensity of these effects depend on multiple factors such as the pattern of fragmentation, the evaluated scale, the permeability of different types of matrices, and the behavioral plasticity of different groups of species. In this study, we evaluated the effects of fragmentation on the community of small-mammals in a severely fragmented landscape of Brazilian Atlantic forest (i) through the differential use of habitats by the small-mammal community and by small-mammal guilds that use forest habitats, open areas or both (generalists); (ii) through the patterns of utilization of micro-habitats by small-mammal guilds; (iii) through the similarity in the use of the landscape, between sexes and generalist species in different space scales. We used pitfall traps installed in six sites. In each site, we sampled five habitats: forest fragments with streams, forest fragments without streams, forest edge, pasture matrix with streams, and pasture matrix without streams. We have detected that the pasture matrix without streams harbored lower species abundance than all other landscape units. The guilds responded differently to the different landscape units. The pasture matrix without streams is inhospitable for forest species which, even for generalists, suffer their effect, decreasing in abundance. A slight increase in the complexity of the vegetation, as observed in riparian matrices, mitigates its negative effect, making the abundance, richness and diversity of matrices with streams comparable to forest habitats. The richness and the abundance of macro-habitat-related guilds were, in general, influenced by the complexity of vegetation into the micro-habitat's scale and revealed a high degree of specificities of the macro- and micro-habitats. This specificity shows that, even in highly fragmented and altered landscapes, the invasion of forest habitats by open-area dwellers does not occur and that the forest dwellers are incapable to use the severely altered micro-habitats. Our results also indicate that in highly fragmented landscapes, the similarity in the use of the landscape varies between species and sexes, among different space scales, and can be strongly dependent on the pattern of fragmentation. The management of fragmented landscapes requires the existence of permeable matrices, as the pasture matrix with stream, which may function as potential habitat, decreasing the division of the landscape and facilitating the maintenance of the original community in the fragmented landscape. / Doutorado / Ecologia / Doutor em Ecologia

The range of a species often extends across a diverse landscape, necessitating that individuals make different movement and habitat decisions, despite consistent food and shelter requirements. Great Basin gophersnakes (Pituophis catenifer deserticola) are threatened in Canada, where they occur at the northern extent of their range in southern interior river valleys of British Columbia such as the Okanagan Valley. I followed 39 radio-transmittered adult gophersnakes at four sites in the Okanagan, to obtain information on life history, movement and range patterns, and habitat use. Habitat selection and movement patterns exhibited by gophersnakes differed between study sites, sexes, and months, indicating that snake choice varies depending on resources and life history traits. Despite these fine-grain differences, males moved more than females in the spring. In addition to this, females moved more than males in the summer and fall. Differences in movement and range were apparent among the study sites. Habitat selection differed by study site, however rock-outcrops were consistently selected overall. Microhabitat selection varied, but retreat sites including logs, rocks, and holes in the ground, were consistently located closer than random. Hibernation sites in the south Okanagan were in rock features, while in the north Okanagan a good proportion were in rodent burrows in hillsides. Hibernation site fidelity was low, and annual reproduction was common. Oviposition sites were on south-facing slopes of moderate grade with little to moderate grass cover. Three ecdysis periods were observed when most or all transmitter-equipped snakes shed their skin. These findings will be very valuable to species conservation goals in British Columbia when developing guidelines on the habitats and sizes of areas to protect. With an iii understanding of the movement and ranges patterns exhibited by individuals, the area required to sustain a healthy population of gophersnakes can be determined. Knowledge of the habitats and microhabitats gophersnakes select makes it possible to identify and protect important areas at sites known to contain gophersnakes, including the Vaseux, Ripley, and Vernon study sites. Characterization of hibernation and oviposition sites allows surveys to identify these areas in locations that may support gophersnakes. Finally, identification of the timing of various important life history behaviours means human disturbance can be avoided during mating and oviposition periods, especially on sites such as Vernon, where land is used for multiple purposes. / Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences (Okanagan) / Biology, Department of (Okanagan) / Graduate

<p>Understanding and adequately protecting habitat is at the forefront of modern conservation concerns. Turtles are especially vulnerable to habitat loss, and are therefore a top priority for habitat research. To help meet this need, I used radio telemetry to collect microhabitat data from two imperiled species of turtles that occupy a military base in Michigan. Preliminary data exploration was carried out with principal components analysis (PCA). Microhabitat use was then modeled for each species using conditional logistic regression (CLR), with a generalized estimating equation (GEE) element to limit bias due to individual variation. Finally, I compared habitat use between sympatric Blanding’s and Wood Turtles using Mann-Whitney U tests and Mood’s median tests to investigate the degree of overlap in microhabitat use when these species occur in sympatry. Evidence for microhabitat selection in Blanding’s Turtles was weak, suggesting that they likely do not make habitat decisions at this level. Wood Turtles selected sites that were farther from water and had fewer trees, less overstory canopy cover, and more ground cover. Additionally, the two species differed in several aspects of microhabitat use; Wood Turtles were more terrestrial and more tolerant of tree cover than Blanding’s Turtles. Patterns of microhabitat use found in this study match previously observed behavior of turtles in high quality habitat, suggesting that managers should work to maintain the habitat currently available at Camp Grayling. Additionally, because both turtle species were associated with open canopy, selective logging could benefit turtles provided care is given to timing and methods. </p>

No description available.

No description available.

Long-term population dynamics across heterogeneous environments can be a major factor in determining species’ ability to expand their ranges and persist in novel environments. Whether and how the relative performance of populations in different microsites over time impacts invasion into new microsites is poorly understood. Though largely restricted to disturbed semi-shaded microhabitats in its home range, the invasive herb Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) successfully invades intact forest understories – a novel microhabitat – in its introduced range, where it is known to impact above and below ground community composition. To test the hypothesis that source-sink metapopulation dynamics may be promoting A. petiolata’s incursion into the forest understory, I utilized two multi-season field surveys – approximately a decade apart – to evaluate trait variation, biomass allocation, and long-term population demographics of A. petiolata growing at the forest edge, within the intact forest understory, and in the intermediate transition zone between the two. My results show that adult plants in the edge were taller and branchier, produced more fruits, and had higher total and reproductive biomass than plants in the intermediate and forest microhabitats. Over time, seedling density remained highest in the edge microhabitat compared to the forest and intermediate microhabitats, which had similar densities. Reproductive adult densities were similar among all microhabitats at the beginning of the study, but a decade later, all microhabitats exhibited a decline in the number of adult plants they supported. Populations in the intermediate microhabitat displayed the steepest decline in reproductive adults between sampling periods but still supported more adult plants than the forest microhabitat. Populations in all microhabitats were predicted to grow (λ>1) at the onset of the study. A decade later, declines in population size were only predicted in the forest understory (λ1). Since edge and intermediate patches had higher densities of adult plants which produced the most fruit and had larger reproductive biomass, it appears that the edge populations, and possibly the intermediate populations, have sustained the low-density forest populations through source-sink dynamics at my study sites.

Large woody debris (LWD) was added to North Fork Stony Creek and North Prong Barbours Creek in southwest Virginia to inlprove fish habitat. The purposes of this study were to monitor stream channel response to the addition of LWD at a stream reach scale and at a local scale around individual logs, to evaluate changes in fish population parameters, and to observe microhabitat availability and use before and after L WD additions. In low-gradient Stony Creek, LWD was effective in modifying fish habitat through the formation of pools, the structuring of poo1/riffle sequences, and the enhancement of channel complexity. New pools formed from the break up of continuous rime habitat, increasing the overall number of habitat units and decreasing mean surface areas. Total pool area increased for both treatment sections, while changing little in the reference section where no logs were added. Localized scour and fill was observed for crosssectional transects around individual logs, creating a more heterogenous environment than in areas without logs. In contrast, physical habitat changed little in moderate-gradient Barbours Creek after L WD was added. An increase in the relative weight of brook trout in Barbours Creek suggested that although minimal channel changes were observed, logs may have increased channel complexity and cover, providing resting areas of lower velocities next to food pathways, which may have lead to decreased energy expenditure. Observations of microhabitat use revealed that unlike adult brook trout, juvenile brook trout used a limited range of depths and velocities. Adult brook trout shifted microhabitat use in response to changes in microhabitat available. Low numbers of fish in Stony Creek may have been related to low pH, but numbers of adult brook trout found in each section increased in 1994. With improved water quality, I believe that fish abundance in Stony Creek would increase through time because of the improved habitat. Although few significant changes were observed for available microhabitat in Stony Creek, changes in physical habitat suggest that over time shifts in microhabitat would be apparent. / Master of Science

The European green lizard, Lacerta viridis, is in the Bohemia region stated as critically endangered species. Populations in this region are located beyond the northern border of continuous range of this species and are closely related to the "riverine phenomenon", and deeply engorged river valleys. The chosen locality in Tiché údolí is a subject to a long-term conservational management aimed to strengthen and maintain abundance of the local population. This management is a direct output of a previous study of this population performed in years 1995-1997. Main goal of the presented study is to compare current population characteristics with the older study. The locality has been visited 119 times in years from 2011 to 2014. The studied population now displays higher abundance and inhabits a larger area. The author also performed a spatial analysis of the places with presence of an observed individual in order to determine and evaluate significance of the chosen abiotic factors for habitat discrimination. The results indicate that positive discrimination is based on the presence of a rock debris and a hiding place. Strongest factors towards negative discrimination were high percentages of grass and high vegetation coverage. This study also contains and discusses ecological, ethological and...