BIODIVERSIDADE E INTERAÇÕES ECOLÓGICAS DA ICTIOFAUNA EM CÓRREGOS DE CERRADO, RIBEIRÃO OUVIDOR, BACIA DO PARANÁ, GOIÁS

Abstract

The Ribeirão Ouvidor basin is located in the Southeast of the State of Goiás. This stream is formed by the junction of the Taquara I and Taquara II streams and belongs to the Paranaíba River basin, high Paraná River basin. This study aims to describe the fish assemblage using ecological descriptors and to determine the fish-environment interaction considering ten environmental parameters (presence of environmental impacts, channel substrate, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, turbidity, luminosity, water flow velocity, and channel width). Fish sampling and measurement of environmental parameters were carried out from August/2004 to June/2005) in a stretch 50m long of nine tributaries and in the main channel of the Ribeirão Ouvidor. Fishes were collected using electric fishing equipment. Four thousand forty-nine individuals were collected, reaching the saturation of species with a total richness of 35 species, from which 42.8% are constant in the sampled watercourses. The richness, diversity (Shannon-Wiener) and uniformity are highest in courses with greater water volume, as the Ribeirão Ouvidor, than in streams. This result was corroborated by the rarefaction analysis. The multivariate analysis of Co-inertia indicates that of the ten environmental parameters considered, the water flow velocity, channel width, pH and water temperature structure the fish assemblage. The interaction of the water flow velocity and channel width with the ichthyofauna is influenced by the anthropogenic activities, while that involving pH and water temperature is influenced by the regional seasonality.