1. Biodiversity patterns within Parana River Basin: what we can learn from distribution models of species-level and community-level?
Anderson C. Sevilha1,2, Robert L. Pressey1, Helga C. Wiederhecker1,4, Jeremy VanDerWal1, Kristen J. Williams3, Simon Ferrier3 and Stephen E. Williams1 1James Cook University, Townsville, Australia; 2Embrapa, Brasília, Brazil; 3CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Canberra, Australia, 4Universidade de Brasília, Brazil.
Introduction
We model the occurrence of biodiversity as a function of environmental variables to estimate its distribution. This is an alternative to close the gaps of species occurrence information, and to support decision-making. Herein we’ve evaluated the distribution patterns of two dimensions of biodiversity: community composition and species richness for the Paranã River Basin (PRB), Brazil. This is a poorly known region of extreme importance for conservation within Cerrado (a biodiversity hotspot).
Results
Species Richness (SDM)
There is a consistent richness pattern for animals groups which contrasts with plants. Richness values for plants were higher at the highlands while birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles were generally higher at the bottom of the Basin.
Community composition (GDM)
There are three major “biogeographic communities” across PRB: the mountain range, the savannas on the north and south, and the dry forests of eastern side. With few exceptions, birds, mammals, and plants followed the same pattern. .
Species richness and altitudinal maps. Temperature is the most important variable to the richness species pattern observed for plants and animals within Paranã River Basin, followed by water (precipitation) and substrate.
Community composition across the PRB. Grid cells mapped in a similar colour are predicted to have similar composition, while cells mapped in a very different colour are predicted to be highly dissimilar in composition.
Materials and methods
Biodiversity patterns
Study area
Inserted in the Cerrado (Brazilian savanna), PRB is a depression within the Brazilian central plateau with an area of approximately 60,000 km2.
Copyright Colin Purrington (
Conclusions
What have we learned? Although the results produced by these approaches are different in their details, they are complementary. They highlight the importance of some regions for biodiversity conservation, because of the high value of species richness and/or distinct community composition. Additionally, we also concluded that the use of richness patterns of some biological groups as proxy for others should be taken with care in conservation planning. Groups respond differently to variation on habitat heterogeneity and structure. Within the Paranã River Basin this was evident between plants and terrestrial vertebrates.
The best way to prioritize conservation within the Paranã River Basin is to ponder the overlap of : 1) communities’ differences pointed out by the models, 2) areas with high values of species richness, and 3) the distributional range of threatened and endemic species. Additionally, more investments on data collection of fauna and flora should be taken, especially for groups that couldn’t be properly evaluated due to lack of records like insects, reptiles and amphibians.
Acknowledgments
We thank to the many students and field assistants who helped to collect on the ground part of the biological data used here; and the support of PROBIO, FNMA, and Conservation International-Brazil. ACS acknowledges the support of EMBRAPA. RLP acknowledges the support of the Australian Research Council. FAPDF for the financial support for Helga Wiederhecker and Anderson Sevilha attend the ATBC 2014-Cairns.