Ephemeroptera (insecta) do leste matogrossense, Brasil: diversidade, distribuição funcional e estudos ecológicos da teoria neutra e teoria de nicho.

Abstract

The order Ephemeroptera constitutes a little group of aquatic insects that is abundant in all types of aquatic environments, performs a significant role on nutrient cycling and because its sensibility to environmental changes, reflects the water quality. In Mato Grosso, the order still little knows and this situation becomes worse due to the constants transformations in consequence to the inappropriate land use. Our objective was to contribute for the knowledge state of diversity and ecology of the order in Mato Grosso evaluating the relative importance of environmental and spatial parameters on communities’ structure. This work was divided in three chapters: The first constitute the first inventory to the State; the second chapter treats about the distribution of Ephemeroptera trophic guilds from Pindaíba River Basin at different types of substrata and in five different orders of streams and rivers; finally, the third chapter includes two ecological theories of species distributions, and verify if the nymphs distributions are structured by environmental process (predictions of Ecological Niche Theory) or by spatial processes (Biodiversity Neutral Theory). This study was made in the east region of the Mato Grosso State, on Suiá-Miçu and Pindaíba rivers basins, where two methodologies were employed. The results of first chapter point the greater diversity of Ephememeroptera in Mato Grosso State. The second chapter results collect information regarding the functional feeding groups of Ephemeroptera nymphs and show that communities are more structured by taxonomic than functional approach. Finally, the results of the third chapter indicate that environmental and spatial factors present effect on the communities’ structure, with the environmental factors explaining a major information percent of species composition variance pointing to the high sensibility of the group to the environmental physics and chemicals decay. Thus, these results compose a collection of significant information for ecology and biology of the order to Brazil.