Banca de DEFESA: NATHALIA PARIS

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : NATHALIA PARIS
DATE: 18/12/2023
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: Sala 211 do Bloco Zeta do Campus São Bernardo da Universidade Federal do ABC
TITLE:

PHYLOGENETIC DIVERSITY OF TERMITES ALONG THE LATITUDINAL GRADIENT OF THE ATLANTIC FOREST

PAGES: 47
BIG AREA: Ciências Biológicas
AREA: Zoologia
SUMMARY:

Termites are hemimetabolous and eusocial insects that live in complex colonies. They exhibit a caste system, within which they have specific morphological characteristics and task division. Termites show relatively high diversity and abundance, especially in the tropics. However, most studies in community ecology with these insects focus on traditional measures of diversity, such as alpha, beta, and gamma. Phylogenetic Diversity is another dimension of diversity that seeks to measure the amount of evolutionary history in a biological community, aiding in the understanding and identification of ecological processes involved in community structuring. To measure phylogenetic diversity, a robust phylogeny containing all species of a particular community is used, in addition to a species list. The overall objective of this dissertation is to analyze the phylogenetic diversity of different termite communities, seeking to understand and explain their patterns. We used data from Cancello and colleagues (2014), who assessed the diversity and abundance of termites along the latitudinal gradient in the Atlantic Forest. We tested the hypothesis that phylogenetic diversity increases as latitude decreases. We employed a phylogenetic hypothesis that integrated taxonomic and phylogenetic data of all known termite species, providing a set of a thousand trees considering phylogenetic uncertainty. There was a correlation between phylogenetic diversity (PD) and species richness (SR). In locations further north along the studied gradient and with higher species richness, we found higher phylogenetic diversity (PD), supporting our hypothesis. The location with the highest MPD value was the second southernmost, while the one with the lowest species richness exhibited the highest MNTD value. The location with the highest species richness and further north had the lowest MNTD. Three locations showed negative values of ses.MPD, suggesting phylogenetic clustering. In other locations, the phylogenetic structure showed a pattern that did not differ significantly from what would be expected randomly. In general conclusion, we can say that phylogenetic diversity in termites has a high correlation with alpha diversity, following the same pattern in response to the latitudinal gradient. Regarding the community structuring process, termite species appear to be driven by neutral processes.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - Interno ao Programa - 1308531 - TIAGO FERNANDES CARRIJO
Membro Titular - Examinador(a) Interno ao Programa - 1848397 - ALBERTO JOSE ARAB OLAVARRIETA
Membro Titular - Examinador(a) Externo à Instituição - THIAGO SANTOS - UFVJM
Membro Suplente - Examinador(a) Interno ao Programa - 1229106 - IVES HAIFIG
Membro Suplente - Examinador(a) Externo à Instituição - ELIANA MARQUES CANCELLO