Seasonal records of benthic macroinvertebrates in a stream on the eastern edge of the Iguaçu National Park, Brazil

Abstract

Background Iguaçu National Park (INP) is known worldwide due to Iguaçu Waterfalls, being considered a World Natural Heritage by UNESCO. The INP is one of the last large forested extensions of inland Brazil that provides protection to the Atlantic Forest, one of the world's biodiversity hotspots. However, its Natural Heritage status has been threatened by the construction and operation of the Baixo Iguaçu dam, agricultural and urban impacts on its boundaries and the increasing interest of the Brazilian government in re-opening of the "Colono road", an old illegal road that crossed the interior of the park. Indeed, since benthic macroinvertebrates have been widely used for the environmental assessment of streams, records and abundance of their taxa under different seasonal periods may provide an additional dataset for biomonitoring of hydrographic systems in the face of current anthropogenic impacts on the INP boundaries and other similar streams on forest edges. New information In this study, we improved the sampling design of benthic macroinvertebrates and provided seasonal records covering distinct precipitation/temperature periods between 2016 and 2017 of a stream on the eastern edge of the Iguaçu National Park, Brazil. The records total 2,840 individuals distributed in 88 different taxa. The most abundant taxa were the Diptera subfamilies, Chironominae (n = 1,487) and Tanypodinae (n = 256), besides the Heterelmis genus (n = 152, Elmidae; Coleoptera). Diptera was the richest order in number of families (n = 8), while Leptophlebiidae (Ephemeroptera) was the richest taxonomic family in number of genera (n = 11). Aegla (Crustacea) and the Insecta genera, Heterelmis, Hexacylloepus, Noelmis, Phylloicus and Thraulodes, were recorded through all samplings. Twenty-five genera of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera (EPT) and Odonata were recorded during intermediate precipitation/temperature periods. Twenty-one of them were recorded in May 2016, with five genera standing out in abundance (Hydrosmilodon, Anacroneuria, Argia, Coryphaeschna, Americabaetis) and four (Needhamella, Tikuna, Simothraulopsis, Neocordulia) in December 2016. Four general taxa were exclusive of the lower precipitation/temperature period (August 2016), standing out in abundance were the Oxystigma (Odonata) and Corydalus (Megaloptera) genera. In March 2017 (higher precipitation/temperature period), four exclusive taxa were recorded, amongst them, the Chimarra (Trichoptera) genus. Furthermore, seasonal records demonstrated higher occurrences and abundance of macroinvertebrates during the intermediate and lower precipitation/temperature periods, besides a varied taxa composition throughout the year, with the presence of both sensitive and tolerant groups to environmental impacts. Our findings suggest that the number and composition of the local-stream macrobenthic fauna were influenced by the seasonal climatic regime. These changes should be considered in the limnological monitoring developed on the hydrographic systems of INP eastern edges to improve the assessment of environmental quality under different local seasonal conditions.

Keywords: INP; Macroinvertebrates records; aquatic insects; biodiversity; forest edge stream; seasonal precipitation; surrounding management.