Abstract
The Chironomidae family is the most abundant and diverse member of the benthic community in streams, yet their identification is still neglected in many papers. It is considered a family tolerant to environmental impacts and with homogeneous feeding habit. AIM: To compare the richness, abundance and taxonomic composition of Chironomidae in Cerrado streams under different land uses as well as the feeding habit differences between genera of reference areas, sugar cane culture and pasture. METHODS: We selected seven streams in each land use and sampled six units using Surber sampler. The material was transported live for laboratory processing. RESULTS: Our results showed no significant differences in abundance and richness of Chironomidae among different land use, but we observed greater average values of abundance and richness in streams impacted by pasture. We found a distinct taxonomic composition between reference streams and impacted streams, both sugar cane and pasture. Stenochironomus was the most representative genus in reference areas, while Parametriocnemus was in sugar cane culture and Tanytarsus in pastures. The only statistically different feeding pattern found were between Cerrado streams and sugar cane for plant tissues, reflecting the greater abundance of Stenochironomus in Cerrado and among Cerrado streams and pasture for microalgae. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the conversion of natural areas in monocultures and pastures directly impact streams by modifying the taxonomic structure of Chironomidae. In contrast we did not observe a clear change in feeding patterns, because in all streams the diet pattern was mostly detritivorous.
Highlights
The Chironomidae family is one of the most abundant and diverse group of the benthic fauna in freshwater aquatic ecosystems (Coffman, 1973; Rosenberg and Resh, 1993; Ferrington Junior, 2008) and yet many papers neglect their identification
Our goal was to compare the richness, abundance and taxonomic composition of Chironomidae in Cerrado streams in areas under different land uses as well as the dietary differences between them, and link these differences to the impacts caused by the sugar cane culture and pasture
We developed our work in the sedimentary basin of São Paulo State (Brazil) (Figure 1), an ecoregion dominated by Cerrado vegetation (Durigan et al, 2007) that is composed of trees and C4 grasses that grow in acid soils rich in aluminum (Durigan et al, 2007)
Summary
The Chironomidae family is one of the most abundant and diverse group of the benthic fauna in freshwater aquatic ecosystems (Coffman, 1973; Rosenberg and Resh, 1993; Ferrington Junior, 2008) and yet many papers neglect their identification. The lack of taxonomic knowledge about the family in the tropical region led to difficulties in identification. The lack of ecological knowledge led many authors to consider them as a homogeneous group in their environmental responses and food preferences (Cummins and Klug, 1979). Permanent slides are required for the identification of genus, making the process slower and expensive
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