Anurofauna como bioindicadora do efeito da eliminação dos resíduos tóxicos nos recursos hídricos da Reserva Estadual do Gurjaú, Pernambuco, Brasil

Abstract

The Atlantic forest is the biome with the greatest concentration of endemic species in the world and is under severe threat of extinction. In the group of vertebrates amphibians occupy a prominent place in the number of endemism, with more than half of all species as being unique to that biome. The study was conducted in the Reserva Estadual de Gurjaú (RESG), which is located south of the city of Recife, within the limits of three municipalities (Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Cabo de Santo Agostinho and Moreno). The RESG has a total area of 1,077.10 ha, of which 400 ha are made up of forest areas. Since its inception Pernambuco is administered by the Company of Water and Sanitation (COMPESA), which has a treatment plant installed in the reserve while eliminating its chemical waste downstream of water intake. The frogs during their life cycle are subject to exposure in various types of environment, opposite as important bioindicators of polluted areas and environmentally abused. In order to confirm the harmful effect of disposing of waste in the environment, between January and December 2004 were collected weekly by active search in a 1km stretch of the River Gurjaú, 500m and 500m upstream and downstream of the point of eliminating pollutants. The results show that the 25 species listed for the RESG, six were seen near the river, namely: Hypsiboas semilineatus (Spix, 1824), Leptodactylus gr. marmoratus (Steindachner, 1867), Scinax x-signatus (Spix, 1824), Lithobates palmipes (Spix, 1824), Leptodactylus vastus (Spix, 1824) and Pseudopaludicola gr. falcipes (Hensel, 1867). Comparing the frequency of species in sampling sites with data from biochemical analysis of the water, we can conclude that the discharge of waste made COMPESA characterized by a potentially harmful action to the environment.