Banca de DEFESA: VIRGINIA HELEN FIGUEIREDO PAIXAO

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : VIRGINIA HELEN FIGUEIREDO PAIXAO
DATE: 17/03/2020
TIME: 08:30
LOCAL: Sala de Reuniões do DECOL
TITLE:

Interactions between cacti and vertebrates in a northeastern Brazilian dry forest

KEY WORDS:

Plant-animal interactions;Frugivory;Cactaceae;Caatinga;Seed dispersal;Florivory;Nestedness;Modularity

PAGES: 50
BIG AREA: Ciências Biológicas
AREA: Ecologia
SUMMARY:

Cacti species play a major role in frugivory networks in arid and semiarid ecosystems. In such environments, where water and food resources are in short supply most part of the year, cacti stand out for their fruit rich in water and sugar, and its mucilaginous pulp. Several studies reinforced the role of birds, bats, and lizards as effective cacti seed dispersers, although little is known about how these interactions are distributed in a network. Network structure provides information about the system stability in the face of disturbances and how tight or weak are interactions between species. Our objective was to describe network structure of mutualistic network of cacti-seed dispersal by vertebrates in SDTF (Caatinga), Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil. We also identified the main cacti fruits consumers and their ecological role as seed dispersers. For that, we monitored frugivory in six cacti species using camera-traps during a year. We found 23 vertebrate species feeding on fruits of four cacti species, in a way that these interactions were not nested or modular, which is a common pattern found in mutualistic networks in tropical and temperate regions. Our data show that cacti have a generalist strategy of attracting a wide variety of animals that provide different dispersal services, such as birds, reptiles, and mammals. During our study, we found new interactions between lizards Salvator merianae to P. gounellei fruits and Tropidurus hispidus feeding on T. inamoena flowers. These records were described in a second chapter. For natural regeneration, it is crucial to maintain ecological services provided by functionally diverse of animal seed dispersers and this should be taken in account in conservation actions that aim to restore Caatinga areas dominated by cacti species.

BANKING MEMBERS:
Presidente - 1718346 - EDUARDO MARTINS VENTICINQUE
Interno - 1439088 - MAURO PICHORIM
Externa à Instituição - VANESSA GRAZIELLE NÓBREGA GOMES - INSA