Land-use effects on ecosystem structure and function of tropical Cerrado streams (2005-2008) (together with Iola Boëchat)

The tropical Cerrado savannah, the second-largest of all South American ecosystems, is undergoing the most rapid land-use changes on the continent, include wholesale shift from native vegetation to grazing and cropland, but the consequences for ecosystem health are largely unknown. In this project, we investigate the effects of these land-use changes and contemporary cultural eutrophication on ecosystem structure and function (community composition, elemental stoichiometry and biochemistry of aquatic biofilms, as well as whole-stream nutrient uptake and ecosystem metabolism) of tropical Cerrado streams.