The fish fauna of eight streams with different land uses of their watersheds (forested and rural areas) in the lower Iguaçu River basin was inventoried, in order to evaluate the composition and species richness. The fishes were sampled quarterly from May 2015 to February 2016, using the electrofishing technique. In total, 4,239 individuals were captured, belonging to six orders, 11 families and 26 species. The orders Siluriformes and Characiformes, and the families Characidae and Trichomycteridae were the most specious. Of the total species sampled, 65% were endemic to the Iguaçu River basin, four are not described and four are non-native. As expected to the Iguaçu River basin, the inventoried fauna revealed low richness and high endemism, however was highly nested within the species composition reported for main channel of Iguaçu River and their larger tributaries. The species recorded here corresponded to a subset of 24.5% of the 106 species documented for the basin. The streams presented different faunas, with only two species (Astyanax bifasciatus and Trichomycterus stawiarski) common to both forested and rural streams. In addition, higher species richness was recorded in streams inserted in conservation units. The presence of non-native species was more frequent in rural streams. These results highlight the importance of the preservation of forested areas in the watersheds of lower Iguaçu, which presents a peculiar fish fauna, along with several threats to biodiversity such as habitat loss by intensive agriculture use.
The diet of Glanidium ribeiroi was investigated in lotic stretches downstream from a cascade of reservoirs to determine how it responds to intraspecific and environmental variations. Monthly sampling was performed from 2013 to 2016 at sites including the main channel of the Iguaçu River and tributaries in preserved basins and agricultural land. The diet of individuals in the preserved tributaries was primarily associated with allochthonous resources, whereas in the non-preserved tributaries and main channel the diets were primarily associated with autochthonous resources. Trophic niche breadth and intraspecific variability differed significantly among sampling areas and size classes. Trophic niche overlap among size classes and sampling areas was low. Positive and negative relationships between the trophic niche breadth and the standard length of individuals were also found in different sampling areas. Intraspecific and ontogenic variations were strongly and consistently associated with forest cover. Individuals responded differently to local environmental variations due to differences in landscape gradients and life cycle changes. Therefore, the effects of spatial heterogeneity on diet composition and intraspecific variations therein appear to be crucial to the success of the populations evaluated. These results may help with the implementation of conservation measures for this and other endemic species.
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