Aquatic insects associated with macrophytes of litoral region of Ribeirão das Anhumas reservoir (Américo Brasiliense, São Paulo State, Brazil)

Abstract

Research on aquatic insects in Brazil has increased in the last years. However, gaps exist on the knowledge relating their association with aquatic macrophytes. The objective of this work was to assess the composition and abundance of the entomofauna associated with macrophytes occurring at Ribeirão das Anhumas reservoir (Américo Brasiliense, São Paulo, Brazil), to evaluate the insects functional trophic levels, to compare the faunistic similarities between sampling periods and between macrophytes through PSC analyzes (similarity) and PCA (Principal Components Analysis), besides establishing the relation between macrophytes wet/dry weight and its associated fauna. We identified 1173 specimens belonging to 26 families distributed in seven orders. The macrophytes support a community predominantly represented for collectors insects (62% of its fauna) followed by predators (31%). The PCA analyses also indicated that different collection periods did not influence the faunistic structure; however this analysis indicated spatial segregation between some macrophytes, with a probable existence of a relation between macrophytes space complexity and associated fauna diversity. The analysis of plants dry weight biomass didn't indicate direct relation with insect abundance.