Contribuições das áreas verdes urbanas para a conservação da biodiversidade: estudos de casos na cidade de Salvador.

Abstract

In Brazil, green areas are neglected from an environmental point of view, the relevance of these places being generally related to economic and social interests. However, this type of habitat has shown great value in the conservation of biodiversity in cities. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to discuss the importance of urban green areas for conservation and how these habitats characteristics can influence biodiversity, using the city of Salvador and ant fauna as study models. In the Brazilian urban environment, ants have already been sampled in different types of habitats (including built environments), however most studies have been carried out in green areas, pointing out that this type of environment is important for maintaining native fauna. Among Brazilian cities, Salvador is the municipality with the greatest known richness of ants for the country, with 198 species. Particularly, the soil ant fauna was positively influenced by the proportion of green areas in the urban landscape, a pattern not shown by tree species. However, tree ants responded to the influence of vertical stratification (tree height) in green areas, while soil species responded to the availability of nesting sites in these environments. Based on the results obtained in this study, besides being considered a good indicator of environmental conditions, when identified at the species level, the ant fauna also presented ecological responses to urbanization when identified at higher taxonomic levels, allowing studies to be carried out in order to save money and time. Thus, the ant fauna proves to be a good biological model, for studies that aim to evaluate the effect of urbanization on biodiversity. Finally, the set of information presented in this thesis contributes to the knowledge about the relevance of green areas for environmental conservation, where we highlight how knowledge about ecology can assist in the management and formulation of laws that promote the balance between economic, social and in cities.