ecologi ae conservação das comuni dades de i ... - ICB - UFMG

Abstract - The Atlantic Forest extends over great extensions of Brazilian territory. Italso includes an array of caves presenting no connection and different litologies. Suchconditions may have influenced the evolution of different groups, contributing for theorigin of many endemic species. This is the most endangered bioma of the country.Unfortunately, the real effect of many kinds of impacts over the undergroundcommunities is still unkown. Therefore, defining methodologies capable of determiningpriority areas for the conservation of underground fauna is of great importance. Throughhistoric and present data of 287 caves, the present study aimed to evaluate theknowledge on cave fauna of the Atlantic Forest, to evaluate the main antropic changes,and propose a methodology to evaluate the biological relevance and vulnerability ofcaves. The Atlantic Forest region presenting the largest number of studied caves isVale do Rio Ribeira , southern São Paulo (Brazil). Aproximetely 110 caves (from 400registered) have already been studied in this area. There were significant differences ofrichness values registered in this study when compared with the values obtained throughdifferent sampling techniques used in other studies, in the same group of caves. Thecaves are mainly surrounded by secondary forest (38%) and pasture (34%). The mainantropic changes were: deforestation (40%), mining (15%), inorganic waste (13%),trample (12%), touristic usage (10%), constructions (10%), graffiti (8,5%), exoticspecies (8,5%) religious usage (7,5 %). The impact level related positively andsignificantly with linear progression of cave (R=- 0,40, p