Padrões de distribuição de abundância de espécies e defasagem temporal da comunidade de amebas testáceas em diferentes escalas espaciais.

Abstract

Ecological systems are variable over time and space. Thus, the variability of the abundance of individuals of different species should change over time due to environmental factors. Ecological patterns are spatially dependent, because certain factors that influence the formation of patterns may predominate in particular spatial scale. Therefore, it is expected that the distribution patterns of species abundance and modification of ecological communities are dependent on the spatial scale. We used data from the community of testate amoebae obtained from a program of long-term ecological study (2000-2011) conducted in the floodplain of the upper Paraná River (Brazil). We found that the communities of testate amoebae in spatial scales have a more restricted distribution pattern of abundance than that in larger scale. We demonstrated that the seasonality of the region studied does not change the general pattern of dependence on spatial scale distribution of species abundance of testate amoebae. Regarding the modification of community testate amoebae was observed that the rate of change in the abundance of individuals in the community of testate amoebae is different according to spatial scales.