Fatores ambientais que afetam a distribuição e estrutura populacional de bivalves límnicos em lagoas adjacentes ao Rio Cuiabá

Abstract

Freshwater mussels are a group at high risk of extinction due to climate change, urban expansion, construction of hydroelectric reservoirs, population growth, eutrophication, habitat degradation, pollution and diffuse spot of aquatic ecosystems. This works was to identify which physical and chemical factors of the water and sediment that determine the structure of mussels community in 18 of ponds the Cuiaba river, in urban and non-urban environments. Sampling of mussels was conducted by groping the bottom of ponds and collecting sediment along transect with the aid of a sieve. The physical and chemical water variables and % organic matter in the sediment were measured and used as predictors of abundance and structure of the mussel community by ordering the principal component analysis, multivariate regression and redundancy analysis (RDA). The RDA showed a ratio of nitrate concentrations and % organic matter having the structure of mussels community. The species were A. trapesialis (50,66%), Pisidium sp. (26.98%) C. fluminea (7,48%), C. inflata (6,82%) and A. elongatus (6,16%). Populations of A. trapesialis and A. elongatus were positively and significantly related to nitrate. Increased % of organic matter in the sediment was associated with a lower abundance of A. elongatus, however little to do with the length class of valves. The species A. trapesialis had a positive and significant effect on the variable dissolved oxygen relative to the valves length class. Environmental factors that reflect the nutrients may influence the distribution of freshwater mussels community, however, not determine the community structure in urban and non-urban environments.