There are many housing neighbourhoods with no functional diversity, where dwellings are the only function of the buildings. Their inhabitants are out during the day, going to their working places and are coming back only in the evening. Therefore, these mono-functional neighbourhoods, at the suburban parts of the cities, present several problematic aspects, such as in security terms. Consequently, good quality requirements of urban life, are difficult to keep. This paper aims to present the results of an urban project, on behalf on the urban planning subject, at the Architecture studies. The case study area is a peripheral neighbourhood, on the outskirts of the Portuguese city of Covilhã, in the Interior region of the country, near to the border with Spain. The presented solutions are focused on the urban continuity as the main feature to be development regarding the urban fabric, based on the functional diversity of the place. They are proposing new green spaces, new squares as meeting public spaces, cycling paths and pedestrian sidewalks with greenery. The low density of buildings is an option in order to keep the local identity in architectural and cultural terms, and sustainable urban environments, where people can meet each other, stay together and organize events for all community.

A bioinvasão marinha representa um dos impulsionadores diretos de mudanças na natureza com maior impacto global, levando a perda de diversidade biológica e de funções ecossistêmicas. Ainda que as consequências causadas pela introdução de uma espécie exótica invasora (EEI) sejam incertas, elas podem causar efeitos quase imperceptíveis até a completa dominação e deslocamento de comunidades nativas. Os mecanismos por trás do sucesso de uma EEI são determinados tanto por características da espécie como da comunidade, contudo, ainda não existe um consenso a respeito do que torna uma EEI bem-sucedida. O presente trabalho, dividido em 5 capítulos, tem como objetivo principal avaliar o efeito de EEI marinhas na diversidade e estrutura trófica em comunidades bentônicas de costão rochoso e divulgar os conceitos relacionados ao estudo da bioinvasão marinha e da ciência marinha para além da academia. Inicialmente reunimos informações atualmente disponíveis sobre as EE marinhas no Brasil e observamos que entre o período de 1950 a 2010, o número de EE marinhas dobrou pelo menos a cada década, o que mostra que o Brasil deve se empenhar de forma mais eficiente no combate a introdução de EE e utilizar ferramentas mais efetivas, por exemplo, umbanco de dados nacional para monitorar tendências nas introduções EE marinhas. No segundo capítulo, nós usamos a abordagem de ajuste e seleção de modelos de distribuição de abundância de espécies, índices de diversidade taxonômica e índices de diversidade funcional baseados em matrizes de agrupamento hierárquico para avaliar os efeitos de quatro espécies marinhas invasoras na diversidade biológica e funcional em costões rochosos ao longo do litoral do estado do Rio de Janeiro. Consideramos que os índices de diversidade taxonômica e funcional são ferramentas úteis para identificar processos que determinam a diversidade biológica, contudo, as características funcionais das espécies refletiram melhor o número e a biomassa de EEI. No terceiro capítulo, utilizamos valores de δ13C e δ15N e métricas de nicho isotópico para investigaras relações tróficas em costões rochosos invadidos pelos corais Tubastraea tagusensis e T. coccinea. Ambos se revelaram competidores alimentares de sucesso que ocupam um nicho específico dentro do nicho ocupado por outras espécies funcionalmente equivalentes Ainda utilizando análise de δ13C e δ15N, no quarto capítulo nós fornecemos a primeira caracterização de uma teia trófica em um costão rochoso de uma área invadida pelo coral mole invasor Sansibia sp., corroborando observações documentadas em campo de um possível predador, também identificamos mudanças desde o último levantamento realizado em 2017 (ano de introdução) e um aumento na abundância e distribuição da EEI para áreas mais favoráveis. O quinto e último capítulo representa um trabalho de extensão universitária desenvolvido em paralelo ao projeto de doutorado onde analisamos diferentes dimensões de atuação do projeto e a resposta daqueles que participaram das oficinas, mostrando a importância de levar informações e debates restritos á academia para além da universidade

No ambiente aquático, a comunidade planctônica é o principal responsável pela transferência de energia para os demais níveis tróficos, uma vez que o fitoplâncton (autotrófico) forma a base das cadeias tróficas enquanto o zooplâncton é o principal elo entre os produtores e consumidores. No entanto, a interação entre fitoplâncton e zooplâncton depende de características fisiológicas, morfológicas e comportamentais de ambas as comunidades. Dentre as diversas abordagens existentes para o estudo das comunidades planctônicas (taxonômica, traços e grupos funcionais e molecular), a utilização de traços e grupos funcionais têm se mostrado eficaz devido à possibilidade de um melhor entendimento sobre o papel das espécies no ecossistema aquático, assim como o vínculo entre elas. Para a comunidade fitoplanctônica, a abordagem de grupos funcionais baseados na morfologia (morphollogically based functional groups - MBFG) tem sido amplamente reconhecida por sua facilitação em modelar a dinâmica das comunidades fitoplanctônicas em diferentes cenários ambientais. Por outro lado, a utilização de traços funcionais para a comunidade zooplanctônica tem demonstrado ser capaz de relacionar mais claramente os requisitos ecológicos do zooplâncton e sua interação com o fitoplâncton. Num primeiro momento, esta tese avaliou a dinâmica temporal e vertical das comunidades fitoplanctônica e zooplanctônica de um reservatório tropical raso (Reservatório do Camorim) com base nos traços funcionais das espécies, visando esclarecer os principais direcionadores de sua estruturação (capítulo I). Neste capítulo, nós observamos que a biomassa e a diversidade fitoplanctônicas estiveram ligadas às variáveis ambientais, principalmente na estação quente/chuvosa, onde a estratificação térmica da coluna d'água propiciou o desenvolvimento de espécies filamentosas com aerótopos (MBFG III) e os altos valores de precipitação foram decisivos para a redução da biomassa total. As espécies fitoplanctônicas com tamanho corporal variando de médio a grande, sem traços especializados (MBFG IV), unicelulares (MBFG V) e com exoesqueleto de sílica (MBFG VI) foram os principais contribuintes para a biomassa fitoplanctônica. Os principais contribuintes para a biomassa zooplanctônica foram copépodos ciclopóide e rotíferos. A abordagem a partir dos traços funcionais demonstrou a dominância de animais de pequeno tamanho corporal, raptoriais, onívoros e de reprodução sexuada. A partir dos traços funcionais observados no fitoplâncton e zooplâncton, podemos sugerir uma fraca relação entre essas comunidades e, consequentemente, um ineficiente controle descendente. Num segundo momento, experimentos laboratoriais, combinando diferentes condições de luz e temperatura, foram realizados com o intuito de aprofundar o conhecimento sobre alguns parâmetros ecofisiológicos (crescimento, morfologia, produção de saxitoxinas, conteúdo de lipídios neutros e capacidade fotossintética) de duas espécies fitoplanctônicas dominantes no Reservatório do Camorim, Raphidiopsis raciborskii (cianobactéria) (capítulo II) e Aulacoseira ambigua (diatomácea) (capítulo III), e, ainda buscar resultados que pudessem explicar suas ocorrências no reservatório estudado, assim como nos demais ecossistemas aquáticos. No capítulo II, Raphidiopsis raciborskii apresentou as maiores taxas de crescimento sob altas intensidades luminosas, combinadas a temperaturas maiores que 15°C, dependendo da cepa. Essa espécie reduziu a produção e quota celular de saxitoxinas sob alta intensidade luminosa em temperatura de 30°C. Portanto, concluímos que o aumento da temperatura combinado com luz suficiente, levará ao aumento de biomassa de R. raciborskii, mas as florações poderão se tornar menos tóxicas nas regiões tropicais. No capítulo III, Aulacoseira ambigua foi sensível à alta intensidade luminosa, uma vez que não conseguiu crescer. Sua capacidade fotossintética foi reduzida e houve aumento do conteúdo de lipídios neutros. A. ambigua foi capaz de alterar sua morfologia sob diferentes combinações de luz e temperatura. Assim, nossos resultados demonstraram que as duas espécies fitoplanctônicas são capazes de ocorrerem e coexistirem no Reservatório do Camorim, como também em diversos ecossistemas continentais, devido aos diferentes requisitos de luz e temperatura e pela ampla plasticidade fenotípica exibida. Além disso, o sucesso de R. raciborskii e A. ambigua em diversos ecossistemas aquáticos pode estar ligado aos traços funcionais que reduzem a pressão de herbivoria (ex. toxinas, presença de sílica, respectivamente).

The increasing demand for timber and pulpwood has triggered an increase in areas of tree monocultures. The effects of native vegetation conversion in such monocultures have been extensively debated, but the consequences of this land use change to functionality and evolutionary history conservation have been little studied. Here, we evaluated how the avifauna responds to nature ecosystem conversion in tree monocultures by quantifying changes in local diversity (alpha diversity) and in assemblage composition (beta diversity), in their functional and phylogenetic components. We compiled forty paired bird lists in native vegetation areas and in comparable tree monoculture areas. Changes in alpha diversity were quantified by paired tests of observed values in native vegetation and in tree monocultures, and changes in assemblages composition through additive partitioning of beta diversity in nestedness and turnover components. We observed that tree monocultures are impoverished in number of species, supporting lower functional richness and less functionally similar assemblages. This demonstrates that environmental filter selecting and limiting similarity processes concurrently modify functional structure of bird assemblages, resulting in loss of functional complementarity and redundancy. Species in tree monocultures are also evolutionary younger and less related to each other. We showed that bird assemblages in tree monoculture are composed largely by functionally and phylogenetic different species from that assemblages in native vegetation. Body size, diet and foraging traits were the major functional traits in predicting the absence of the species in tree monocultures. Alson, we show that annual average temperature, annual average pluviosity and stage of understory development in tree monocultures are important predictors of diversity loss in these type of monoculture.

Over the years, ecologists have tried to understand the diversity of attributes in communities and how this reflects how species respond to the environmental gradient. It is known that different environmental conditions such as temperature, precipitation and productivity are able to select attributes and result in different configurations of functional diversity patterns. These gradient responses may or may not be structured in phylogeny, which argues that phylogenetically closest lines will respond in a similar manner. Moreover, given the different histories and evolutionary origins, lineages (e.g. families) may respond differently when compared to whole groups (e.g. orders). Thus, we aimed to understand if climatic variables and productivity gradient are able to explain the diversity of attributes of groups and families of birds and mammals in the American continent. In addition, we wanted to understand if these responses to environmental gradients had a phylogenetic signal. For this, we calculated the functional diversity for the group and bird and mammal and their families in Protected Areas of the American continent, and performed a multiple regression analysis between the values of diversity and variables of temperature, precipitation, seasonality and productivity gradient (for the classes and their respective families). Afterwards, we performed a variation partitioning analysis to understand the contribution of each variable to the values of functional diversity. We then performed a phylogenetic signal analysis on the slope values (beta) resulted from multiple regression analyzes. We found that productivity explained most of the values of functional diversity for the families of birds and mammals. In addition, the responses to the environmental gradient were quite different for the families when compared to the group as a whole. We also did not find a phylogenetic signal in the response of bird and mammal’s families. These results lead us to conclude that studying whole groups rather than finer taxonomic scales can mask different responses to ecological and evolutionary factors of community structuring, once lineages have different evolutionary histories and respond differently to environmental factors. Furthermore, our results show that lineages with similar environmental gradient responses are not necessarily related (evolutionary convergence) and, therefore, there is no evidence for niche conservation.

Climate and land use changes are affecting natural ecosystems, reducing and fragmenting the habitat available to species, increasing population isolation and, consequently, decreasing gene flow, changing species distribution, altering their life cycles, causing population declines and species extinction. They are pointed out with the most important direct pressures on terrestrial biodiversity and their impacts tend to increase in the coming decades. In this context, a study for conservation planning that presents the response mechanisms of the species, indicates the species that will be most vulnerable, identifies the most important areas for the conservation of the species and discuss how the different components of diversity will be affected by these changes becomes necessary and important. The Cerrado is a biodiversity hotspot, being considered the most vulnerable savanna in the world. Virtually 50% of its native vegetation cover has been lost and only 7.5% of the Cerrado is covered by protected areas. In addition, a temperature increase of 5 to 5.5ºC and a reduction in precipitation of 35 to 45% for the Cerrado are projected by the end of this century, which puts all of its biodiversity at risk. This thesis assesses the possible impacts of climate and land use changes for birds in the Cerrado and presents conservation proposals in the face of such impacts. Chapter 1 provides a literature review that seeks to find possible mechanisms for species response to climate change through their biological and ecological traits. Chapter 2 makes an assessment of species vulnerability to climate and land use changes, considering sensitivity, adaptive capacity and exposure of the species evaluated. Still, a mapping of these components is presented and how much of the distribution of each most vulnerable species is within the protected areas. Chapter 3 identifies areas where climatic conditions would change little and maintain native vegetation, which could act as refugia for species. Estimates the proportion of species distribution that will occur within the areas of refugia. It presents and discusses the most appropriate conservation strategies to protect species in areas with different combinations of climate and land use. Chapter 4 shows how the functional and phylogenetic structure of bird communities is related to species richness and how these components are spatially distributed in the Cerrado. In addition, it assesses how climate and land use changes will affect functional and phylogenetic structures, maps important areas to protect taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional components and assesses the spatial congruence between these areas.

The study of diversity patterns has generated many hypotheses, which have been often seen as rivals. However, biodiversity is a complex phenomenon and the result of the effects of multiple drivers acting at the same time, effects that may vary in space. The variance of the complex array of drivers that explain local diversity is important to understand the geographic differences in the effects of land use changes. These drivers act as different filters to the establishment and survival of species populations, changing the composition and structure of the community. They may also filter different individual traits, thus altering the functional structure of the community. We defined three main questions: (1) which are the main drivers of local dung beetle species richness in the Neotropics; (2) whether the relative importance of these drivers varies geographically; (3) and how does the time since land use change affect the functional aspects of the community. For the first question, we constructed a database with published literature on dung beetle communities, to extract information on species richness, abundance, type of bait, type of habitat and sampling effort (as hours/pitfall). We used a multi-hypothesis approach to understand which set of hypotheses better-explained dung beetle species richness at a local scale. Specifically, we used environmental variables to account for six hypotheses: productivity, water–energy, ambient energy, habitat heterogeneity, climatic heterogeneity, and resource heterogeneity, plus a seventh neutral hypothesis described using only spatial data. For the second question, we compiled data from standardized surveys based on pitfall traps, and estimated species richness at each locality using sample coverage estimators. We assessed the relationhips between several predictors (including climate, habitat and mammal diversity) and species richness, and also between them, by means of geographically weighted structural equation mixed models. And for the third question, we conducted standardized surveys of dung beetle communities in seven forest fragments and adjacent pastures at two different regions pertaining to the Atlantic forest (Itajaí Valley) and the Cerrado (Goiânia region) biomes, using pitfall traps baited with human and cow dung, and rotten liver. We measured fourteen traits in individuals collected in each type of habitat at each particular site. And then we calculated the functional richness, functional evenness, functional divergence and community-weighted mean of traits for each area, and analyzed the individual variation through Trait Statistics. We found that Dung Beetle local richness is a result of productivity (by energy and water) and Heterogeneity (both habitat and resource). The analysis of the variables allows to interpret that the “more-individuals hypothesis” is the main mechanism driving dung beetle diversity, through the importance of abundance. This importance is common to all the Neotropics, but the factors that affect abundance vary between regions. Dung beetle diversity presents geographical heterogeneity in the responses to the factors where we can observe three regions: Mesoamerica, Amazonian, and Subtropical South America. Also, Mammal diversity had contributed to dung beetle diversity and abundance differently, mainly as a consequence of the conversion of forest to pastures. The forest–pasture conversion affected dung beetle functional diversity, where the pasture presented lower functional richness in both regions. But the species pool had a greater effect than time for the reduction of the effect of this conversion. The difference in the species pool also reflects in the trait’s individual variance. While in the Atlantic Forest the filtering occurs at the species level, in the Cerrado it occurs at the individual level in some traits. Understanding that biodiversity is a complex phenomenon, we suggest to take this in account and use not only a multi-hypothesis approach to study its drivers, but also to consider the spatial variance of this relations. For future works with dung beetles would be interesting to understand the historical and evolutionary events that not only shape species diversity, but also filter dung beetle traits at the species or individual level.