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Water Resources in the Rupestrian Grasslands of the Espinhaço Mountains

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Ecology and Conservation of Mountaintop grasslands in Brazil

Abstract

The rupestrian grasslands in Minas Gerais State comprise headwaters of important watersheds that drainages for millions citizens in over 400 cities in São Francisco and Doce river basins. The human activities in the rupestrian grasslands include domestic supply, agriculture, forestry, cattle raising, industry, and mineral extraction. This chapter addresses the ecological conditions of streams in terms of water quality (physical and chemical characteristics, nutrient availability), habitat quality and structure (diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates, structure of the riparian vegetation, riparian food webs, invertebrate drift), and ecosystem functioning (allochthonous and autochthonous production, dynamics of coarse and fine particulate organic matter, leaf litter breakdown of native and alien species). A synthesis of 20 years of ongoing research on the headwaters in the rupestrian grasslands is included, together with perspectives for future conservation and management of water resources.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Geraldo W. Fernandes for the invitation to contribute with this chapter and for his constructive comments on early versions. Manuel Graça and Irineu Bianchini offered carefull reading and insights to previous version of this chapter. Our studies have been supported by Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento (CNPq), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG), Fundação Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), P&D ANEEL (GT-487) and CEMIG-Programa Peixe Vivo. MC was awarded research productivity grants CNPq (No. 303380/2015-2) and CNPq research grant (446155/2014-4) and Minas Gerais researcher grant FAPEMIG PPM-77/13 and PPM IX-02/2015. JFG-Jr was supported by CNPq (Proc. 472.328/01–8), FAPEMIG (Proc. 1085/03, APQ-2051-5.03/07, and FAPEMIG/PRONEX 20/2006, 465/07) and PADI-Project AWARE Foundation. The authors are grateful for the logistical support provided by IBAMA, IEF-MG and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Biologia Geral, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Marcos Callisto

  2. Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil

    José Francisco Gonçalves

  3. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Pará, Brazil

    Raphael Ligeiro

Authors
  1. Marcos Callisto
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  2. José Francisco Gonçalves
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  3. Raphael Ligeiro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marcos Callisto .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerai, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Geraldo Wilson Fernandes

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Callisto, M., Gonçalves, J.F., Ligeiro, R. (2016). Water Resources in the Rupestrian Grasslands of the Espinhaço Mountains. In: Fernandes, G. (eds) Ecology and Conservation of Mountaintop grasslands in Brazil. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29808-5_5

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