Uso de isótopos estáveis de carbono (12C,13C) e nitrogênio (14N, 15N) como indicadores do fluxo de matéria e estrutura trófica em ambientes aquáticos : propostas metodológicas para a superação de pressupostos e limitações de técnicas analíticas

Abstract

One of the key stones of aquatic ecology field is the understanding on the origin and flow of energy and matter along food webs. Several hypotheses and theories try to explain (1) the differential contribution levels of production in terrestrial habitats and (2) the differential trophic chain lengths between different parts and types of aquatic habitats. About 60 years ago, the isotopic ratios of the components of trophic webs, mainly carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N), has been used to identify and quantify the relationships between them. Carbon provides the identification of sources of matter because its isotope ratio almost no change between the consumer and the resource. On the other hand, the nitrogen provides the opportunity to measure the trophic position of consumers, since their isotopic ratio changes in a similar way between subsequent trophic levels. Since then, various analytical techniques have been emerged to overcome the assumptions and limitations on the use of stable isotopes. At least two key factors are identified for estimating trophic positions, to trace the assimilation of resources and to compare these in different situations: (1) the consideration of isotopic values on the baseline of the food webs, and (2) the trophic discrimination factors (TDF), or the change which occurs in the isotope ratios between a source and the organism that consumes it. In the first chapter, the trophic structure of a lake and a wetland at Taim Ecological Station was evaluated during the dry (summer) and wet (winter) seasons. The hypothesis are that the lake, a larger and more stable habitat, will present (1) a larger trophic complexity whereas the wetland, being smaller and more instable will present (2) greater relationship with terrestrial sources, especially during flood period. In addition, the proposition of the use of trophic position (PT) replacing δ15N as proxy for vertical dimension on the isotopic space metrics, was made in order to consider differences in baselines between situations. The trophic structure of the wetland was simpler than the lake, and was more related to terrestrial material during flood, as well as the trophic length was higher during flood, confirming those hypotheses related to the size, hydrological pulse and stable environments. In the second chapter, populations of livebearer Jenynsia multidentata, an omnivore consumer, were studied over a estuarine gradient to evaluate the effect of using different values of TDF, including those associated with specific diets (carnivore and herbivore), on the assimilation and PT estimates. Furthermore, a new method for TP estimation of consumers subject to different sources of variation in the FDT was proposed. The new method (TPPA) takes the proportion of food assimilation estimates for each source and its associated TDF, with this being the proportional value used to give weight for TDFs of each source to the final TDS. The results indicated that most of the plant material consumed was not assimilated, and thus even when animals were less ingested, these were the most assimilated resource. Furthermore, the proposed method was suitable to trace the assimilation and reveal that the use of widely used means of TDFs may not be suitable when the consumer presents different types of diet. The results obtained, contribute to improve the knowledge about the structure and functioning of globally important conservation areas present in the Rio Grande do Sul state and also seem to contribute to the development of analytical techniques involving stable isotopes as tracers along the food webs.