Estrutura das comunidades de invertebrados em cinco cavernas insulares e intertidais na costa brasileira

Abstract

The Brazilian islands have coastal and intertidal caves, but invertebrate communities present in these caves were still unknown. Thus, this study aimed to sample cave invertebrates and food resources in five coastal/intertidal caves. The aim was to promote a comparative analysis of the composition, abundance, richness, diversity, dominance and similarity of invertebrate communities. A total of 97 species distributed in Coleoptera (15 spp.), Araneae (13 spp.), Diptera (11 spp.), Mollusca (9 spp.), Hymenoptera (6 spp.), Isopoda (5 spp.) Acari (4 spp.) Chilopoda (4 spp.) Ensifera (4 spp.), Psocoptera (3 spp.) Annelida (2 spp.), Opiliones (2 spp.) Pseudoscorpiones (2 spp.), Amphipoda (2 spp.) Decapoda (2 spp.), Collembola (2 spp.), Lepidoptera (2 spp.) Zygentoma (2 spp.) Granuloreticulosa (1 sp.) Cnidaria (1 sp. ), Platyhelminthes (1 sp.) Amblypygi (1 sp.), Cirripedia (1 sp.) Dictyoptera (1 sp.) and Diplura (1 sp.) were found. Three beetles (Carabidae: Trechini) presented troglomorphic traits (depigmentation and lack of the eyes). Overall, the caves showed high richness and low values of qualitative and quantitative similarity. The communities’ structure in coastal/intertidal caves seems to be related to the frequency and magnitude of natural and anthropogenic disturbances.