Implication of our findings for aquatic biodiversity conservation
in the Cerrado Hotspot
Cerrado streams usually undergo seasonal flooding, and the variation in
water flow usually is not drastic especially in headwater streams (Bispo
et al. 2004, Bispo and Oliveira 2007). The results of our study draw
attention to biodiversity conservation. Processes of land modification
near streams is accelerating in the Cerrado region (Bowman 2016). The
loss of riparian forest makes flooding events more frequent, especially
in the rainy season. Cerrado is also targeted for construction of small
to medium sized dams, which directly affects the hydrological dynamics
of lotic systems. We detected that a reduced permanence of groups
compared to natural conditions due to disturbance frequency, and there
is a possibility of biodiversity losses.
Climate change is predicted to condense the rainy season into shorter
periods of time at a regional scale, but with more intense precipitation
events in the tropics (IPCC 2014, Fischer and Knutti 2015). Thus, on a
broader temporal and spatial scale, we would have more accentuated and
more frequent rains, which will directly affect the permanence of
aquatic insects in headwater streams, especially those with less
vegetation cover. Therefore, maintaining the riparian forest cover
becomes key in maintaining the biodiversity of aquatic entomofauna
(Dala‐Corte et al. 2020), as it prevents water runoff from reaching
streams quickly, attenuating flow disturbances and losses of functional
groups important to these aquatic insect communities.’