Editorial
Throughout its history, Acta Limnologica Brasiliensia Journal has been publishing articles of spontaneous demand, that is, manuscripts addressing different aspects of Limnology and aquatic communities have been submitted by researchers from various geographic regions. Moreover, not infrequently, some limnologists have proposed the publication of thematic Issues to the Journal's editorial board. Two thematic Numbers have been published in the past years: Number 2, Volume 22 of 2010, addressing the aquatic macrophyte community; and Number 3, Volume 25 of 2013, on the coastal lagoons of northern Rio de Janeiro state. The current Issue (Number 2, Volume 26), comprising 10 studies developed in southern Brazil, was proposed by Professor Luiz Ubiratan Hepp of the Graduate Program in Ecology of the "Universidade Regional Integrada do Alto Uruguai e das Missões" - URI, Erechim, Rio Grande do Sul state. This region holds a significant number of research groups dedicated to studying the most diverse aspects of Limnology. These studies have the geographic region as a common point, whose climate is the most important factor. In the three southern states of Brazil, rainfall is distributed throughout the year, with no clear definition between the dry and rainy seasons; in addition, annual rainfall varies from 1000 to 2000 mm. Also, mean annual temperatures are below 20 ºC, ranging approximately from 10 to 15 °C, which provides winters with temperatures close 0 °C (or negative) and hot summers (~35-40 ºC). Although the subtropical region is recognized, there is no general consensus on its definition and ecological standards for its populations, communities and ecosystems. In this sense, researchers from the southern region have conducted researches and discussed their results so that they could understand these standards and ecological processes better. In 2008, at the initiative of researchers from the ‘Universidade Federal do Rio Grande' - FURG, the 1st Seminar on Limnological Studies under Subtropical Climate was carried out aiming to bring together researchers, undergraduate and graduate students from universities of the sates of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná. The initiative was very positive, and it enabled numerous collaborations between different research groups. Thus, in order to strengthen and consolidate this integration between researchers from southern Brazil, we have produced this special thematic Issue on "Biodiversity and conservation of subtropical aquatic ecosystems" (Number 2, Volume 26). The articles address studies in lentic and lotic environments in which patterns and processes of different communities and populations are investigated; they present distinct objectives that pervade the following research topics: the study of the variation of macrophytes in urban reservoirs; the effect of consumers on the benthic community; the influence of environmental variables on phytoplankton and aquatic insects; spatial and temporal factors as regulators of communities; the biomonitoring of aquatic ecosystems; long-term studies with aquatic weeds; and the ecology of freshwater crustaceans. In short, we hope this thematic Issue can please limnologists because, although it addresses works carried out in a specific geographic region, it comprises broad themes of general interest to the Brazilian and global Limnology.
Luiz Ubiratan Hepp and Antonio Camargo
Editors
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
09 Oct 2014 -
Date of issue
June 2014
