ORCID Profile
0000-0002-4311-0491
Current Organisations
Universidade Federal Fluminense
,
Universidade Federal de São Carlos
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2016
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 18-11-2020
DOI: 10.3390/D12110434
Abstract: Spatial configuration of habitat types in multihabitat seascapes influence ecological function through links of biotic and abiotic processes. These connections, for ex le export of organic matter or fishes as mobile links, define ecosystem functionality across broader spatial scales. Herbivory is an important ecological process linked to ecosystem resilience, but it is not clear how herbivory relates to seascape configuration. We studied how herbivory and bioerosion by 3 species of parrotfish were distributed in a multi-habitat tropical seascape in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO). We surveyed the abundance of three species with different life histories—Leptoscarus vaigiensis (seagrass species), Scarus ghobban (juvenile-seagrass/adults-reefs) and Scarus rubroviolaceus (reef species) —in seagrass meadows and on reefs and recorded their selectivity of feeding substrate in the two habitats. Herbivory rates for L. vaigiensis and S. ghobban and bioerosion for S. rubroviolaceus were then modelled using bite rates for different size classes and abundance and biomass data along seascape gradients (distance to alternative habitat types such as land, mangrove and seagrass). Bioerosion by S. rubroviolaceus was greatest on reefs far from seagrass meadows, while herbivory rates by S. ghobban on reefs displayed the opposite pattern. Herbivory in seagrass meadows was greatest in meadows close to shore, where L. vaigiensis targeted seagrass leaves and S. ghobban the epiphytes growing on them. Our study shows that ecological functions performed by fish are not equally distributed in the seascape and are influenced by fish life history and the spatial configuration of habitats in the seascape. This has implications for the resilience of the system, in terms of spatial heterogeneity of herbivory and bioerosion and should be considered in marine spatial planning and fisheries management.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 15-10-2014
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-08-2021
Abstract: Consumption rates constitute a fundamental, yet relatively elusive quantity in ecophysiology and ecosystem ecology. Measuring consumption rates of highly mobile animals is often challenging, especially in the wild, which makes scientists rely on proxies such as bite rates. However, we still lack a theoretical framework that formally bridges these quantities. Here we expanded a model based on the Metabolic Theory of Ecology to quantitatively characterise how consumption rates are related to bite rates, and predict how the latter should change with body size, temperature and diet. We test our predictions using mensurative experiments from eight populations of redlip blennies—genus Ophioblennius —across the Atlantic Ocean. Bite rates scaled with body size according to our theoretical predictions. On the other hand, they increased at a faster‐than‐predicted rate with rising temperatures. This finding might be explained if the energetic content of Ophioblennius spp. diet—which is primarily composed by detritus across all populations—decreases with temperature. Yet, they seem to be consistent with the idea that populations adapted to warmer environments exhibit higher‐than‐expected grazing pressure on primary producers. Current ocean warming is set to skew body size distributions towards smaller sizes, and our model indicates that the combined effects of smaller sizes and higher temperatures will increase mass‐specific consumption rates, with direct implications for how energy flows through food webs.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 10-06-2015
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 14-12-2017
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2020
DOI: 10.1111/DDI.13183
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-10-2023
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-07-2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-04-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41559-022-01710-5
Abstract: Human impact increasingly alters global ecosystems, often reducing bio ersity and disrupting the provision of essential ecosystem services to humanity. Therefore, preserving ecosystem functioning is a critical challenge of the twenty-first century. Coral reefs are declining worldwide due to the pervasive effects of climate change and intensive fishing, and although research on coral reef ecosystem functioning has gained momentum, most studies rely on simplified proxies, such as fish biomass. This lack of quantitative assessments of multiple process-based ecosystem functions hinders local and regional conservation efforts. Here we combine global coral reef fish community surveys and bioenergetic models to quantify five key ecosystem functions mediated by coral reef fishes. We show that functions exhibit critical trade-offs driven by varying community structures, such that no community can maximize all functions. Furthermore, functions are locally dominated by few species, but the identity of dominant species substantially varies at the global scale. In fact, half of the 1,110 species in our dataset are functionally dominant in at least one location. Our results reinforce the need for a nuanced, locally tailored approach to coral reef conservation that considers multiple ecological functions beyond the effect of standing stock biomass.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 19-03-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.03.17.435827
Abstract: Understanding the variation in community composition and species abundances, i.e., β- ersity, is at the heart of community ecology. A common approach to examine β- ersity is to evaluate directional turnover in community composition by measuring the decay in the similarity among pairs of communities along spatial or environmental distances. We provide the first global synthesis of taxonomic and functional distance decay along spatial and environmental distance by analysing 149 datasets comprising different types of organisms and environments. We modelled an exponential distance decay for each dataset using generalized linear models and extracted r 2 and slope to analyse the strength and the rate of the decay. We studied whether taxonomic or functional similarity has stronger decay across the spatial and environmental distances. We also unveiled the factors driving the rate of decay across the datasets, including latitude, spatial extent, realm, and organismal features. Taxonomic distance decay was stronger along spatial and environmental distances compared with functional distance decay. The rate of taxonomic spatial distance decay was the fastest in the datasets from mid-latitudes while the rate of functional decay increased with latitude. Overall, datasets covering larger spatial extents showed a lower rate of decay along spatial distances but a higher rate of decay along environmental distances. Marine ecosystems had the slowest rate of decay. This synthesis is an important step towards a more holistic understanding of patterns and drivers of taxonomic and functional β- ersity.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-07-2017
DOI: 10.1002/AQC.2797
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 17-12-2018
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12851
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-05-2022
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.13513
Abstract: Understanding the variation in community composition and species abundances (i.e., β‐ ersity) is at the heart of community ecology. A common approach to examine β‐ ersity is to evaluate directional variation in community composition by measuring the decay in the similarity among pairs of communities along spatial or environmental distance. We provide the first global synthesis of taxonomic and functional distance decay along spatial and environmental distance by analysing 148 datasets comprising different types of organisms and environments. Global. 1990 to present. From diatoms to mammals. We measured the strength of the decay using ranked Mantel tests (Mantel r ) and the rate of distance decay as the slope of an exponential fit using generalized linear models. We used null models to test whether functional similarity decays faster or slower than expected given the taxonomic decay along the spatial and environmental distance. We also unveiled the factors driving the rate of decay across the datasets, including latitude, spatial extent, realm and organismal features. Taxonomic distance decay was stronger than functional distance decay along both spatial and environmental distance. Functional distance decay was random given the taxonomic distance decay. The rate of taxonomic and functional spatial distance decay was fastest in the datasets from mid‐latitudes. Overall, datasets covering larger spatial extents showed a lower rate of decay along spatial distance but a higher rate of decay along environmental distance. Marine ecosystems had the slowest rate of decay along environmental distances. In general, taxonomic distance decay is a useful tool for biogeographical research because it reflects dispersal‐related factors in addition to species responses to climatic and environmental variables. Moreover, functional distance decay might be a cost‐effective option for investigating community changes in heterogeneous environments.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-03-2023
DOI: 10.1111/JBI.14599
Abstract: Functional ersity encapsulates whole‐community responses to environmental gradients mediated by species traits. Under trait convergence, similar responses may cause distantly related taxa to exhibit spatially correlated functional ersity. We investigated whether similar responses of reef fish, coral and algal functional richness and disparity to the environment produce spatially correlated functional ersity patterns. Brazilian marine biogeographical province. Reef fish, corals, algae. We analysed data from 40 coastal and oceanic sites distributed across 27 degrees of latitude in the Brazilian province. Using traits, we measured functional richness (FRic) and disparity (Rao's Q ) and calculated Pearson's correlation () between pairs of metrics and taxa. We used Bayesian multivariate linear models to model taxa functional richness and disparity relative to sea surface temperature (SST), turbidity, salinity, species richness and region, and to estimate the residual correlation () between metrics after accounting for these variables. The best fitted model contained SST, species richness and region, and explained about 56% of the variation in FRic and Rao's Q across taxa. Yet, FRic and Rao's Q of fish, algae and corals responded differently to environmental variables. Functional ersity metrics were less correlated between algae and corals than compared to fish. Observed correlations of FRic and Rao's Q were low to intermediate across taxa (average = 0.14), and residual correlations were even lower (average = 0.02). SST, species richness and region had a widespread role in determining spatially congruent functional ersity offish, algae and corals across Brazilian reefs, despite their fundamentally different evolutionary histories. Low residual spatial correlations suggest that other mechanisms might also contribute to functional ersity patterns of reef taxa independently. Given the role of SST, species richness and region, the functional structure of these reefs might be compromised by climate change, pollution and overfishing.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2017
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2015
DOI: 10.1071/MF14150
Abstract: This study investigates the reef fish community structure of the world’s smallest remote tropical island, the St Peter and St Paul’s Archipelago, in the equatorial Atlantic. The interplay between isolation, high endemism and low species richness makes the St Peter and St Paul’s Archipelago ecologically simpler than larger and highly connected shelf reef systems, making it an important natural laboratory for ecology and biogeography, particularly with respect to the effects of abiotic and biotic factors, and the functional organisation of such a depauperate community. Boosted regression trees were used to associate density, biomass and ersity of reef fishes with six abiotic and biotic variables, considering the community both as a whole and segregated into seven trophic groups. Depth was the most important explanatory variable across all models, although the direction of its effect varied with the type of response variable. Fish density peaked at intermediate depths, whereas biomass and bio ersity were respectively positively and negatively correlated with depth. Topographic complexity and wave exposure were less important in explaining variance within the fish community than depth. No effects of the predictor biotic variables were detected. Finally, we notice that most functional groups are represented by very few species, highlighting potential vulnerability to disturbances.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-03-2020
DOI: 10.1111/ECOG.04868
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-05-2017
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-02-2014
Publisher: FapUNIFESP (SciELO)
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.1590/1982-0224-2021-0010
Abstract: Abstract Damselfishes are known keystone species of reef environments, however large-scale distribution patterns are poorly studied in the southwestern Atlantic. We evaluated main drivers of distribution of three conspicuous damselfishes, along tropical and subtropical coastal systems, in Brazil. Abundances were assessed against wave exposure, depth (within 1–7 m in tropical and 1–11 m in subtropical reefs) and benthic cover. Despite differences between systems, exposure and depth consistently explained damselfishes distribution. Stegastes fuscus, the larger damselfish species of the genus in the southwestern Atlantic, was dominant in both systems, inhabiting preferably shallow and sheltered reefs. Conversely, Stegastes variabilis occupied shallow habitats with higher exposure. Stegastes pictus was absent from tropical reefs s led, inhabiting depths m, in subtropical reefs. Species were weakly associated with benthic features, which poorly predicted changes in abundances. Regardless, S. fuscus showed association with articulated calcareous algae, and S. variabilis juveniles associated with erect macroalgae. Despite occurring in very distinctive reef systems, Brazilian damsels habitat requirements are consistent in both tropical and subtropical reefs. While highly persistent species, long term monitoring will inform us how they respond to pervasive global changes and human impacts along Brazilian reefs.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.JENVMAN.2021.113889
Abstract: With the rapid global increase in the number and extent of marine protected areas (MPAs), there is a need for methods that enable an assessment of their actual contribution to bio ersity conservation. In Brazil, where MPAs have been designated to replenish bio ersity, there is a lack of regional-scale analysis of MPA impacts and the factors related to positive ecological change. This study aims to quantify the magnitude of the ecological effects of Brazilian MPAs and test whether some study and MPA characteristics (e.g., taxonomic group studied, exploitation level of species, MPA area, protection time, management effectiveness, level of connectedness, etc.) were underlying factors associated with their performance. We conducted a structured search in a database of scientific articles, selecting comparative studies of direct bio ersity metrics inside and outside MPAs offering different protection levels (i.e., fully- or partially-protected MPAs) or within MPAs with distinct zones. We then carried out a meta-analysis based on 424 observations found in 18 articles. Averaged across all studies, we found that MPAs had a 17% increase in the abundance of species, length of in iduals, and community ersity. When compared to open-access areas, fully-protected MPAs increased bio ersity by 45%. However, MPAs offering partial protection had variable effects, ranging from significant positive to significant negative effects. MPA effects depended on the taxonomic group and exploitation level of species, with the strongest positive effects seen on exploited fish species and benthic invertebrates. Partially-protected MPAs that reported strong positive effects required long time of protection (>15years) and high level of connectivity. Conversely, fully-protected MPAs (i.e., no-take ones) could be effective even when small, under intense fishing pressure in their surroundings, and regardless of their level of connectivity. We used the Brazilian MPAs as a case study, but these results can contribute to a more comprehensive assessment of the association between ecological impacts of MPAs and drivers of conservation success, and offer key information to consolidate MPA networks that sustain bio ersity.
Publisher: Inter-Research Science Center
Date: 27-06-2013
DOI: 10.3354/MEPS10383
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-06-2021
No related grants have been discovered for Carlos Eduardo Ferreira.