Heterogeneidade ambiental e biodiversdiade: estado da arte de conhecimentos como subsídio à gestão e manejo de recursos hídricos

Abstract

The effects of environmental heterogeneity (EH) on biodiversity have been studied since the 1960s and there is a general pattern that predicts that the greater the EH in a location, the greater the species richness. For this reason, the use of water resources management techniques that aim to increase EH to recover aquatic biodiversity has been growing. However, it is not known which environmental factors significantly influence the increase in EH and, consequently, the effective recovery of biodiversity. The objective of this study was to synthesize existing knowledge about the effect of EH on biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems. We carried out a systematic review of the international literature and analyzed how different studies conceptualize HE, which environmental factors are evaluated, which biological groups are most studied and how HE is measured. We observed that there is a lack of standardization of concepts and terminologies used, due to the high variety of criteria used to quantify EH in these ecosystems. We highlight the smaller number of evidence that tested the effect of EH on planktonic organisms, which may hinder restoration actions for this group of organisms. As future perspectives, we suggest expanding studies in mesocosms to test different environmental factors with a potential positive effect on biodiversity. Furthermore, we emphasize that policies for the recovery and management of water resources must occur at multiple spatial scales to ensure success and effectiveness.