Experimentos ecológicos com macrófitas no Brasil: uma revisão sistemática

Abstract

Aquatic macrophytes are of utmost importance to aquatic communities and to humans and are essential bioindicators of water quality. Experiments involving these aquatic plants help us to understand different ecological aspects of this community and the functioning of the aquatic ecosystem. Systematic reviews are essential to systematize the knowledge produced on these issues, so that we can identify which effects of macrophytes are most studied and also identify knowledge gaps that can be further explored through experiments with macrophytes. Thus, we conducted a systematic review of experiments with macrophytes conducted in Brazil, analyzing the species and design used in these experiments and the ecological themes studied. To this end, we conducted a bibliographic search on the Web of Science and Scielo Brazil platforms, selected articles related to the topic and collected relevant information from them. In total, we analyzed 13 articles in full, which experimentally manipulated 14 distinct species of macrophytes, most of them submerged. Our results showed that most studies have occurred since the year 2009 and have analyzed the effect of aquatic macrophytes on the planktonic community (zooplankton and phytoplankton) and fish. In addition, the most studied theme was predator-prey interaction. Finally, most experiments were conducted on a mesocosm scale. We conclude, therefore, that there are research gaps in experimental studies with macrophytes in the areas of biological invasion, ecosystem functions, and studies involving aquatic insects. Investment in science and research is essential to address these knowledge gaps.