Distribution patterns and community composition of waterbirds and bird enteroparasites in continental wetlands in the state of Rio de Janeiro
Community structure, Spatial and temporal variation, Lagos, Coccidio
Understanding how communities vary in space and time concerning environmental conditions
and abiotic factors is essential to promote waterbird conservation, either in natural or human-
altered areas. This work aimed to verify the effects of environmental heterogeneity and spatial,
temporal, and climate variation on the distribution and composition of waterbird communities
in continental wetlands; in addition, determine the occurrence of enteroparasites in birds that
use these areas. The community structure of waterbirds differed between artificial, natural, and
temporary lakes. Richness and abundance increased with increasing lake area and distance from
human settlement; however, they decreased with increasing depth and extension of open
surroundings. Abundance was also influenced by pH, increasing in sites with less acidic pH,
and semi-shaded surroundings and grazing pressure, decreasing the number of individuals with
the increase of these two variables. Lakes with higher perimeter values and shaded surroundings
also showed higher richness and abundance of species. With regard to the general importance
of each environment variable, waterbird guilds were mainly influenced by lake area, aquatic
vegetation height, pH, surrounding vegetation richness, and distance from human settlement.
On the temporal scale, richness remained relatively stable, however, abundance increased over
time. Temporal trends were also identified in species composition and dispersion patterns.
Precipitation and temperature did not influence richness, indicating that the high number of
resident species contributed to a relatively constant richness over time. However, abundance
decreased with increasing precipitation and temperature, whichalso may influence
environmental conditions. With regard to enteroparasites, 45 fecal samples from Theristicus
caudatus were positive for oocysts identified as Eimeria bazi. This morphology was consistent
with the original description of E. bazi from Pseudibis papillosa in India. Molecular analysis at
the COI gene exhibited low similarity with coccidians sequenced for the same genic region
deposited in GenBank, sitting E. bazi separately on the cladogram. The results suggest that
local, structural, hydrochemical, and anthropogenic characteristics determine the structure of
waterbird communities, and the environmental heterogeneity in inland lakes influences the
occurrence and permanence of guilds. In addition, temporal, precipitation, and temperature
variations have an effect on the waterbird communities. Additionally, the morphological and
molecular studies support the identification of E. bazi from T. caudatus in South America, thus
revealing the wide distribution of this eimerian species in the world provided by migratory birds
and/or with intercontinental distribution.