Abstract
Ants can be important tools to assess the conditions of a given environment, as well as to monitor restoration of degraded areas. This study evaluated the richness and abundance of ant assemblages associated with areas directly impacted by the construction of small hydropower plants in the State of Paraná. To survey the ant fauna, samples were collected in September 2014 and January 2015 using pitfall and malaise traps. The association of the ant fauna composition with fragments and seasonality was analyzed by detrended correspondence. Fifty-eight species of ants were registered. The subfamily Myrmicine and the genus Camponotus were the most abundant (S= 25, S = 10, respectively). The removal of vegetation and formation of lakes in the directly affected area cause impacts that can be monitored based on the results of this study.
Highlights
Human activities and exploitation of natural resources pose threats to biodiversity conservation (DIAMOND, 2012)
Small Hydropower Plants (SHP) represent an alternative of lower impact compared to large hydropower plants (KLIEMANN; DELARIVA, 2015)
The richness of ants recorded in this study was below other surveys performed in forested environments in southern Brazil (ULYSSÉA et al, 2011; LUTINSKI et al, 2014), is more than double the richness of ants verified by Maciel et al (2011) in southern state of Paraná
Summary
Human activities and exploitation of natural resources pose threats to biodiversity conservation (DIAMOND, 2012). The transformation of natural environments into areas intended for human undertakings is the main cause of ecosystem fragmentation and a risk to the conservation of the diversity of organisms (GALINDO-LEAL; CÂMARA, 2003). There is a growing concern for environmental sustainability and the environmental impacts of the current energy matrix, based on the burning of fossil fuels (LUTINSKI et al, 2017). In this context, Small Hydropower Plants (SHP) represent an alternative of lower impact compared to large hydropower plants (KLIEMANN; DELARIVA, 2015). Little is known about the impact on the richness and abundance of invertebrate organisms living in these environments
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