title: Macroinvertebrate diversity loss in urban streams from tropical forests.
abstract: The increase of human activities in recent years has significantly interfered and affected aquatic ecosystems. In this present study, we investigate the effects of urbanization in the community structure of aquatic macroinvertebrates from Atlantic Forest streams. The sampling was conducted in the mountainous region of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 10 urban and 10 preserved streams during the dry season (August-September) of 2012. The streams were characterized for its environmental integrity conditions and physico-chemical properties of water. The macroinvertebrates were sampled on rocky substrates with a kicknet. A total of 5370 individuals were collected from all streams and were distributed among Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Plecoptera, Hemiptera, Megaloptera, Coleoptera, Trichoptera, Lepidoptera, and Diptera. In urban sites, all those orders were found, except Megaloptera, while only Mollusca was not found in preserved streams. We performed a non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis that separated two groups distributed among sites in urban communities and another group outside this area. The dominance was significantly higher at urban sites, while the α diversity and equitability were greater in preserved sites. A canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was also performed, indicating that most taxa associated with high values of the Habitat Integrity Index (HII) and a few genus of the order Diptera with the high values of ammonia, total nitrogen, associated to streams in urban sites. Urban and preserved streams differ by physical-chemical variables and aquatic macroinvertebrates. In urban streams, there is most dominance, while α diversity and equitability are higher in preserved streams.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Entomologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Inst. de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), CCS, Bloco A, sala A1-107, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, 373, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. tatidocile@gmail.com.|Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. tatidocile@gmail.com.|Laboratório de Biotecnologia Ambiental, Centro Universitário Estadual da Zona Oeste (UEZO), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. tatidocile@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Tatiana N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Docile
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Biotecnologia Ambiental, Centro Universitário Estadual da Zona Oeste (UEZO), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.|Centro Universitário de Volta Redonda (UniFOA), Volta Redonda, Brazil.|Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência e Tecnologia Ambiental, do Centro Universitário Estadual da Zona Oeste (UEZO), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ronaldo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Figueiró
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Entomologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Inst. de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), CCS, Bloco A, sala A1-107, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, 373, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Clayton
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Portela
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Entomologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Inst. de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), CCS, Bloco A, sala A1-107, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, 373, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jorge L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Nessimian
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D001938:Brazil; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D065928:Forests; D007313:Insecta; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000145:classification* / Q000254:growth & development; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D012621:Seasons; D014507:Urbanization / Q000639:trends
keywords: Anthropogenic impact; Aquatic insects; Community structure; Urbanization