Anthropogenic impacts on freshwater biodiversity

Stream ecosystems harbor a large portion of freshwater biodiversity, but are being highly modified by human-induced impacts at both local and landscape scales. In southern Brazil, those impacts are mainly related to eutrophication and the replacement of natural landscapes by monocultures. Thus, it becomes a pressing task to understand how stream communities respond to anthropogenic changes.

Our research is focused on understanding how land-use intensification affects stream metacommunities. Currently, we are investigating how communities are affected by the conversion of natural grasslands to monocultures in the Brazilian Pampa Biome.

We also use microcosms experiments to investigate the responses of freshwater communities to climate change and other anthropogenic impacts, as pesticides.