Liberação ecológica de lagartos e endoparasitas na Floresta Tropical Atlântica, nordeste da Região Neotropical

• Ano de defesa: 2019
• Autor(a) principal: Teixeira, Adonias Aphoena Martins
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso embargado
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal da Paraíba; Brasil; Zoologia; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas; UFPB
• Palavras-chave em Português: Oportunidade ecológica; Compensação de densidade; Expansão de nicho; Especificidade de hospedeiro; Facilitação de infecção; Ecological opportunity; Density compensation; Niche expansion; Host specificity; Facilitated infection; CNPQ::CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS::ZOOLOGIA
• Link de acesso: https://repositorio.ufpb.br/jspui/handle/123456789/20162

We compared endoparasites-lizard assemblages between the Atlantic Forest and naturally isolated forest enclaves to test the ecological release hypothesis (E. R. H.). Prediction: In isolated areas (poor assemblages), the parasites must present a lower host specificity (wide niche breadth) and greater abundance in relation to non-isolated areas (more diverse assemblages). Considering lizards, E. R. H. predicts that their niche dimensions (e.g., diet and morphology) and abundance should be greater in isolated areas than in non-isolated areas. The parasite abundance did not differ between areas, but showed a positive relation with the parasite richness. On the other hand, host specificity was positively related to parasite richness. Parasites are partially under ecological release, because in the presence of potential competitors they increase their abundance (per host), due to the facilitated infection; however, the use of hosts (amplitude) only expands in the absence of competitors. On the other hand, there were no significant differences in relation to lizard abundance and niche breadth (morphology) between isolated and non isolated areas, however niche breadth (diet) was significantly higher in non-isolated than isolated areas. In addition, the low lizard richness in isolated areas (ecological opportunity) did not alter their morphological traits and abundance, emphasizing the importance of historical factors in the assemblage structure. However, niche breadth (diet) was higher in non-isolated than isolated areas, indicating a strong relevance of the ecological/recent factors in the structuring of the studied assemblages, which can be explained by the absence of competition among the lizard species in these areas.