Cidade viva: explorando bioindicadores para avaliar a qualidade ambiental urbana

Abstract

The conversion of natural areas to urban use results in profound environmental changes. Some factors involved in this process, such as native vegetation suppression and surface impermeabilization, tend to modify the structure and quality of habitats and thus negatively affect biodiversity. Given this, we used the guild of solitary bees and wasps that nest in preexisting cavities as bioindicators of environmental quality. Based mainly on the sensitivity of these insects to changes in environmental conditions, linked to their role in maintaining ecosystems through the provision of ecosystem services. The dissertation is divided into an introductory part followed by a single chapter entitled “Response of the community of solitary bees and wasps (Hymenoptera: Aculeata) to variation in environmental quality in an urbanization gradient”. In this chapter, we compare the dynamics of the insect communities, including nest occupancy, patterns in ecological variables, and parasitism interactions, in areas under different anthropogenic pressures (natural-urban gradient). We identified that, in general, the negative effects on the solitary bees and wasps analyzed reached their maximum intensity in the strata with the highest urbanization intensity. From the results obtained, we infer the capacity of these environments to maintain components of urban biodiversity necessary for the health of an environmental system.