Composição, abundância e dinâmica reprodutiva e alimentar de populações de peixes de um reservatório recém-formado (UHE - Capim Branco I / MG)

Abstract

The loss of diversity is one of the main damage to the environment caused by the construction of reservoirs and it is related to the disappearance of terrestrial habitats by flooding, and the changes produced in the aquatic habitat. These changes reflect, above all, in the availability of food and in the reproduction of the fish species, leading to a remarkable structural change on aquatic communities in relation to the originals. This study aimed to estimate the richness and characterize the composition of the dominant fish, and appreciate the dynamics of reproductive and feeding of fish populations impacted by the impoundment of the Araguari River for the formation of Capim Branco I Hydroelectric Dam. Monthly collections were conducted from July 2006 to June 2007, it is using expect gillnets of different meshsizes. The reservoir presented a low total richness, and it was arrested 1180 individuals that belongs to five orders, 12 families and 29 species. The community was dominated by 7 species, which added up together to 80,1% of the total number of individuals and 53,6% of the total biomass of fish collected. The reservoir also had a low number of migratory fish species. The results indicated that a large portion of the community of fish concentrated the reproductive efforts in the season of higher precipitation, although for many species this period has been a little advanced or extended. There was a predominance in the number of species from small to medium size, sedentary or that realize short reproductive migrations and that the majority did not exhibit parental care, as Astyanax altiparanae and Acestrorhynchus lacustris. Among the species classified as migratory, Pimelodus maculatus was the most abundant in the reservoir, which can be related to the fact that it has multiple spawning during the reproductive season, produces oocytes of smaller size and requires short spaces of running water to spawn. Most of the species had some content into the stomach throughout the sampling period, except for some species with a tendency to piscivory, which had greater number of individuals with empty stomachs throughout the period, as Galeocharax knerii, Acestrorhynchus lacustris and Hoplias lacerdae. The food items more consumed were sediment, vegetable matter, insects, algae, fish and benthic organisms, represented mainly by immature forms of insects (aquatic larvae). The species Pimelodus maculatus, Astyanax altiparanae, Trachelyopterus galeatus, Leporinus amblyrhynchus and Gymnotus carapo consumed a great variety of food items in their diets, both of autochthonous and allochthonous origin. Eight feeding guilds were found for the species analyzed: algivorous, detritivorous, herbivorous, herbivorous/insectivorous, insectivorous, piscivorous, piscivorous/omnivorous and omnivorous. The classification of the species at different feeding guilds showed the pattern of high frequency of piscivorous, omnivorous, herbivorous and detritivorous dominating the reservoir. The impoundment of the Araguari River for the formation of Capim Branco I Hydroelectric Dam caused negative effects on the community of native fish from this river, as reduction in the richness of species and reduction in the abundance of migratory species, in addition to having favoured the increase of opportunistic species.