Alteração na alimentação de três espécies de peixes (Teleostei) relacionada ao aporte de esgoto e a retirada de mata ciliar nos córregos dos Aflitos e Ferradura, Alfenas, MG

Abstract

The neotropical fishes have high trophic plasticity and change your diet according to food availability in the environment. Thus, it is expected that in environments impacted by human activities, fish change their food preferences due to the absence of their preferred food items. Thus, the aims of this study is determine if feeding the fish species Astyanax scabripinnis, Astyanax fasciatus and Geophagus brasiliensis is influenced by the removal of riparian vegetation and by the sewage discharges along the streams of the Aflitos and Ferradura, Alfenas, MG. It was determined the frequency of occurrence, the weight percentage and the Feeding Index (AI) of each item at each point, and was compared for each species, the diet among the collection points. Our results indicate that both the sewage and the removal of riparian vegetation along streams of the Aflitos and Ferradura change the diet of the species. The three species are generalists with preference given to insects of indigenous origin and altered feeding in environments with no riparian vegetation and sewage input. Thus, these two human impacts alter the diet of fishes.