The end of an entire biome? World's largest wetland, the Pantanal, is menaced by the Hidrovia project which is uncertain to sustainably support large-scale navigation.

The resurgent navigation project known as the Hidrovia Paraguay-Paraná threatens the integrity of the Pantanal, the world's largest wetland, which is considered a biome of its own. Intensive barge navigation is intended to transport crops (soybean, sugar, corn) and cement, iron and manganese from areas of production in Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia to the oceanic ports of the Plata River. This short communication assembles the information available on the potential impacts of the planned deepening of the natural channel of the Paraguay River in its ~700 km-long upper section.

Size and degree of protection of native forest remnants drive the local occupancy of an endangered neotropical primate.

Although the species-area relationship is well known, it may interact with and be augmented or cancelled out by other factors, such as local human disturbance. We used data on site occupancy of the Endangered blonde capuchin monkey (Sapajus flavius) based primarily on a standardized program of local interviews to model the influence of past human disturbance on the occurrence of this species across remaining forest patches of northeastern Brazil within the Atlantic Forest and Caatinga biomes. To do so, we assessed environmental covariates that best represent the history of human impacts.

Climate change negative effects on the Neotropical fishery resources may be exacerbated by hydroelectric dams.

Climate change is now recognized as a reality and along with human pressures such as river fragmentation by dams, amplifies the threats to freshwater ecosystems and their biodiversity. In the Brazilian portion of the Upper Paraguay River Basin (UPRB) that encompasses the Pantanal, one of the largest tropical wetlands in the world, in addition to the high biodiversity found there, fisheries are an important ecosystem service mostly supported by migratory fishes. We estimated the current range of migratory fish of commercial interest, also assessing the climate change effects predicted on the distribution patterns.

Stability and generalization in seed dispersal networks: a case study of frugivorous fish in Neotropical wetlands.

When species within guilds perform similar ecological roles, functional redundancy can buffer ecosystems against species loss. Using data on the frequency of interactions between fish and fruit, we assessed whether co-occurring frugivores provide redundant seed dispersal services in three species-rich Neotropical wetlands. Our study revealed that frugivorous fishes have generalized diets; however, large-bodied fishes had greater seed dispersal breadth than small species, in some cases, providing seed dispersal services not achieved by smaller fish species.