Banca de DEFESA: Daniel Reis Maiolino de Mendonça

Uma banca de DEFESA de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : Daniel Reis Maiolino de Mendonça
DATE: 20/07/2023
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: Videconferência
TITLE:

The Milieu Souterrain Superficiel and Biological Connectivity in the Carajás Iron System

KEY WORDS:

Shalow souterrain habitat; Conservation; Caves; Structuring factors; community ecology; troglobites species; gene flow, Conservation of underground fauna; Iron Formation.

PAGES: 10
BIG AREA: Ciências Biológicas
AREA: Biologia Geral
SUMMARY:

This thesis aims to complete part of the requirements for obtaining a doctor's degree in the Graduate Program in Biotechnology and Biodiversity at the University of Brasília. This is a project in the line of research on bioeconomy and conservation of natural resources. The ferruginous geosystems, areas with large deposits of iron ore, can be considered as one of the most unique and important natural environments on the Earth's surface. However, they also fit in the list of environments of greater economic importance and of more conflicting use. Since the use of iron on a large scale, it has been known that the extraction of ore leads to the loss or degradation of elements such as relief, the landscape, the recharge capacity of aquifers and biodiversity, altering the ecological balance of these environments. ELEZ and collaborators (2013), and more recently OLIVEIRA (2020), point out that effective conservation of the underground environment is not limited to protecting the cavity itself, but also its surroundings. From a more specific point of view, biospeleology related to the iron system, especially in Serra de Carajás/PA, has revealed countless new taxa, usually rare, many of which are adapted and restricted to the underground environment, called troglobites. Some authors point out that the cryptic diversity in subterranean organisms leads to morphologically similar lineages, but genetically distinct, which can often be classified as a single species with a wide distribution, implying the conservation of this group of species (VEROVNIK et al, 2003; FINSTON, et al, 2007). In this perspective, advances in molecular studies have shown good results. In this perspective, there is a growing need for a better understanding of species distribution patterns and the functioning of the underground system at a local and regional scale when analyzing the biological connectivity between natural cavities. In this way, a study in two chapters was proposed here, addressing the conservation of the underground ecosystem in ferruginous areas of the Serra de Carajás in view of the increasing loss of habitat of vertebrate and invertebrate species that, at some level, depend on this underground environment. Based on the sampling of the subterranean fauna that occupies the rocky massif that surrounds the caves, the so-called Milieu Souterrain Superficiel (MSS), inaccessible directly to the human being, and analysis of ecological and molecular data of subterranean arthropod species populations, especially the troglobites, this The general objective of this work was to describe the role of MSS in the dispersion of underground fauna in the Carajás iron formation, through the analysis of ecological factors that affect the structure of the arthropod community, as well as the characterization of the gene flow between populations of troglobite species present in the half underground in different caves and mountains. In chapter 1, the applied methodology was based on the installation of traps in boreholes in order to sample the animals that are transiting through the discontinuities of the MSS, testing their spatial distribution according to depth, climatic seasonality and type of bait used. There was an inherent difficulty in the applicability of the methodology since it depends on the partnership between the research and the drilling of boreholes, which without which the cost makes the execution of projects unfeasible, in addition to the high loss of traps due to silting. The total sampling of subterranean arthropods resulted in the collection of 54 taxa, distributed in 5 Classes and 13 Orders. Mites and springtails, Coleoptera and were the most diverse groups, in addition to being better distributed in the sample. The depth showed a significant relationship with the richness of the total fauna, as well as other groups such as Arane and Colembola. The type of bait significantly influenced the spider and mite community. Seasonality, in turn, significantly affected mites, dipterans and coleoptera. Species composition was significantly affected by the three analyzed variables, evidencing its influence on community structure. It was possible to observe that, according to the similarity data based on the richness and species composition of the samples from the same hole, they were closer than samples from different holes, however this grouping shows a very weak structure, showing that there are no barriers that lead to a community of arthropods on the analyzed plateau. In chapter 2, the ecological functionality of these connectivities was verified by analyzing the genetic diversity found in populations at local and regional level, since the landscape, composed of disjointed iron plateaus, would be sufficient to impede the gene flow of the sampled populations. After collecting and morphotyping samples of Pseudoporatia sp. (Diplopoda: Pyrgodesmidae) found in caves along the landscape, their genetic material was extracted and hierarchized, in order to observe the existence of structured populations or cryptic species through analyzes using the DNA Barcode. The phylogenetic analysis of Pseudoporatia sp. was carried out based on groups of sequences of the mitochondrial gene Cyctochrome Oxidase I - COI, widely used in initial studies of non-model species. After processing 198 samples, it was possible to compare the lineages by means of phylogeographical analyzes both in populations sampled in cavities in the same mountain range and between caves in different mountain ranges. Based on the number of observed mutations, it was possible to verify that the studied morphotype presents little or no population genetic structure within the same plateau or mountain range. Conversely, it was possible to observe that the populations of other mountain ranges may be composed of a pool of morphologically related, but genetically different, cryptic species. The information obtained can be used for the taxonomic definition of the species of Pseudoporatia sp that exist in the different locations studied. The increase in MSS understanding of areas that involve conservation and compatibility with mining activities that occur in the Carajás Iron Forest, can better define the needs of troglobite species during the definition of necessary areas in order to avoid liquid loss of species.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 1773535 - FERNANDO PACHECO RODRIGUES
Externa ao Programa - 2375985 - LILIAN GIMENES GIUGLIANO - UnBExterno à Instituição - LUIZ FELIPE MORETTI INIESTA - UFMA
Externo à Instituição - MARCUS PAULO ALVES DE OLIVEIRA - BIOESPELEO
Externo ao Programa - 1671881 - RENATO CAPARROZ - UnB