Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: LIVIA DAMASCENO MENESES

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : LIVIA DAMASCENO MENESES
DATE: 12/10/2026
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: https://meet.google.co m/roj-hehh-egw
TITLE:

SPATIO-TEMPORAL DYNAMICS AND FUNCTIONAL STRUCTURE OF REEF COMMUNITIES: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE RESILIENCE OF REEFS IN NORTHEAST BRAZIL

 

KEY WORDS:

functional ecology; rare species; reef fish; spatial and temporal patterns; tropical reefs

 

PAGES: 81
BIG AREA: Ciências Biológicas
AREA: Ecologia
SUMMARY:

In Brazil, reef systems are distributed along a 3,000 km coastline, from the mouth of the Amazon River to the state of Santa Catarina. Compared to reef communities in the Caribbean and the Indo-Pacific, which show high coverage of scleractinian corals, Brazilian reefs have a particularly unique composition, with a high degree of endemism. Due to variations in environmental, geological, and anthropogenic factors, Brazilian reef formations exhibit great spatial and temporal heterogeneity. Thus, this study aims to assess how the fish and benthic invertebrate communities of the potiguar reefs vary on a temporal and spatial scale, analyzing possible correlations between the fish fauna and environmental variables. The data were obtained through underwater visual surveys conducted over a 14 year period at eight reefs located along the easternmost portion of the Brazilian coast. The spatiotemporal dynamics of reef communities were investigated using multidimensional analyses. In addition, Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) were applied to test the association between fish community structure and the selected environmental variables. The results indicated significant spatial variation in the composition of reef communities, with different indicator species associated with the reefs. This spatial pattern was found to be influenced predominantly by depth and distance from the coast. The reefs also exhibited significant temporal changes, with a decline in fish richness over the study period. The metrics selected to represent the structure of the fish fauna responded differently to environmental predictors. While species richness showed no significant relationship with any variable, individual density exhibited a significant negative association with accumulated precipitation (β = -0.11 ± 0.04 SE; z = -2.69; p < 0.01). With regard to biomass, it was found that surface water temperature (β = 0.17 ± 0.08 SE; z = 2.11; p < 0.05) and distance from the coast (β = 0.52 ± 0.17 SE; z = 2.91; p < 0.01) had a significant positive effect. These results show that, even on a local scale, reef communities differ in composition, being influenced by environmental factors that are subject to variations across space and time. 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Interna - 1677189 - GISLENE MARIA DA SILVA GANADE
Presidente - 1378974 - LIANA DE FIGUEIREDO MENDES
Externo à Instituição - MARCELO DE OLIVEIRA SOARES - UFC