Brazil has a variety of aquatic ecosystems and rich freshwater biodiversity, but these components have been constantly damaged by the expansion of unsustainable activities. An array of different conservation strategies is needed, especially the creation of protected areas (PAs, hereafter). However, Brazil's PAs are biased towards terrestrial ecosystems and we argue that current PAs have limited efficacy in the protection of freshwater biodiversity. New PAs should better consider aquatic environments, covering entire basins, rivers and other freshwater habitats. We recommend ways to implement these PAs and provide guidance to avoid social impacts. Freshwater systems in Brazil provide essential goods and services but these ecosystems are being rapidly degraded and will be lost if not adequately protected.
Aquaculture is the main vector for introduction of non‐native species in Brazil and around the world. Despite the potentially serious and irreversible ecological impacts caused by non‐native species, they continue to be in many cases the preferred option in aquaculture farms, of which the recent plans of aquaculture expansion promoted by the Brazilian Government are an emblematic example. In this study, we present a survey of publicly available information on aquaculture parks to be installed across the Brazilian territory, with emphasis on species status as native or non‐native, and discuss the implications for the conservation of aquatic biodiversity. One hundred and thirty‐nine aquaculture parks (APs), with a total of 1556 sites covering 941.38 hectares, have been called for bids. Among these, 122 APs will contain at least one non‐native species, and 68 APs will be based exclusively on their cultivation. A predictable consequence is the enhancement of propagule pressure in surrounding aquatic ecosystems, increasing the risk of non‐native species establishment or persistence, which will likely intensify the environmental impacts already in course in four major river basins and along the Brazilian coast. These impacts will add up to more direct effects of aquaculture farming – for example elevated input of nutrients and organic matter – and include changes in habitat and water quality, spread of diseases, biotic homogenization, loss of population viability resulting from hybridization and outbreeding depression, and the local extirpation of native species.
The patterns of parasite sharing among hosts have important implications for ecosystem structure and functioning, and are influenced by several ecological and evolutionary factors associated with both hosts and parasites. Here we evaluated the influence of fish diet and phylogenetic relatedness on the pattern of infection by parasites with contrasting life history strategies in a freshwater ecosystem of key ecological importance in South America. The studied network of interactions included 52 fish species, which consumed 58 food types and were infected with 303 parasite taxa. Our results show that both diet and evolutionary history of hosts significantly explained parasite sharing; phylogenetically close fish species and/or species sharing food types tend to share more parasites. However, the effect of diet was observed only for endoparasites in contrast to ectoparasites. These results are consistent with the different life history strategies and selective pressures imposed on these groups: endoparasites are in general acquired via ingestion by their intermediate hosts, whereas ectoparasites actively seek and attach to the gills, body surface or nostrils of its sole host, thus not depending directly on its feeding habits.
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