Repositório RCAAP

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Communication is a very important factor for the maintenance of several vital ecological processes among animals. Among birds, the acoustic communication has primordial role and it is indispensable for reproduction, to repel predators and in social dynamics. Body size imposes physiological constraints to the vocal apparattus, and consequently, limits the components of vocalizations. The environment also inflicts certain physical restrictions to the acoustic signs and limits the transmissibility of information. The Acoustic Adaptation Hypothesis (HAA) predicts a different selection for vocalization characters in forest habitats. Specifically, frequencies in forest habitats tend to be affected by attenuation, absorption and reverberation, effects imposed by physical barriers in this environment. The present work tested the HAA using 142 bird species and five major clades widely distributed in Brazil, considering body size and two phylogenetic comparative methods: pairwise comparisons and phylogenetic independent contrasts. None of the Suboscine vocal characters were correlated to morphology. Most of the predictions of AAH were not corroborated and varied between clades.

The agriculture expansion over native vegetation has provocaded habitat fragmentation in main Brazilian biomes. It was described the vegetation and the entomofauna of four semi deciduous forest fragments, which represent remnants of the Atlantic Rainforest, inserted in the Cerrado domain, as well as the abundance and the body size and symmetry of the ant Pachycondyla cf. crassinoda (Ponerinae) in these fragments. The study area is located at the Itumbiara, state of Goias, Brazil, situated in the Paranaíba river valley. This area has intensive agricultural activity that has been accelerating the deforestation of natural process. The following hypotheses were tested: 1) the remnants that are geographically closer tend to be floristically more similar and the fragment size is directly related to its biological diversity, 2) fragment size and floristic composition influence the entomofauna community structure in terms of richness and abundance, 3) the fragment size affects the abundance and the fluctuating asymmetry (FA) population levels of a formicinae population and the size of their individuals. It was also investigated in this ant population whether there are correlations between body s size and symmetry with the individual s abundance and the climatic conditions. The floristic composition, the body s size and FA of Pachycondyla cf. crassinoda were influenced by the fragment size. Smaller fragments were floristically more similar to each other, despite not being geographically close and the entomofauna similarity between fragments was independent of the fragment size. The vegetation diversity did not linearly interfered with the insects abundance, but the rainfall significantly affected the density, the size and the FA of P. cf. crassinoda. All studied forest remnants are important for conservation of the local biological diversity, regardless of their size. The evaluation of forest fragmentation impact should considered a combination of several factors such as the size of the area, the surrounding matrix, the degree of isolation and the local biotic and abiotic factors.

Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico

Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais

Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico

Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior