Consequências de reservatórios em cascata sobre a biologia reprodutiva de um piscívoro neotropical no nordeste brasileiro

Abstract

According to the Serial Discontinuity Concept of the impoundments cause discontinuities in the physical and biological characteristics of rivers, where the combined effect of dams in series may cause negative impacts on fish biology. Thus, the aim of this work was to understand how the reproductive biology of A. britskii is affected by the synergistic effect of the cascade reservoirs in the São Francisco River, with the hypothesis that reservoir cascade alters the reproductive characteristics of A. britskii, reducing their reproductive activity throughout the gradient. The 4651 specimens of A. britskii were caught with gill nets of various mesh openings. Subjects were identified and analyzed their gonads. There was a sex ratio of 2.33 females per male on the whole cascade, with significant difference between the sexes in all the tanks, with the number of females greater than the number of males. The average size at first maturity of females showed that the majority of individuals in all the reservoirs of the cascade, is above the size at first sexual maturity (L50). In the analysis of the RGS, there was a greater reproductive activity in reservoirs Itaparica and Sobradinho, however the average values of RGS were coming in all the reservoirs. The weight / length ratio is found that there is a positive allometric growth for both sexes (b> 3). The IAR was classified as severe in all reservoirs (> 20). In the correlation analysis between the biological aspects and environmental parameters in the reservoirs of the cascade, we found values of rS <0.6, then confirming a low ratio between them. In general, the reproduction of the species A. britskii, is not being influenced by the cascade reservoirs in the São Francisco River, suggesting that the species is well adapted to the environment.