Limnoperna fortunei Dunker, 1857 larvae in different environments of a Neotropical floodplain: relationships of abiotic variables and phytoplankton with different stages of development/Larvas de Limnoperna fortunei Dunker, 1857 em diferentes ambientes de uma planície de inundação Neotropical: relação com variáveis abióticas e algas fitoplanctônicas em diferentes estágios de desenvolvimento

Abstract

Limnoperna fortunei Dunker, 1857 is an Asian invasive freshwater bivalve. Although there need to contain their spread, studies about the biology of the larvae are scarce. The authors correlated the larval stages of L. fortunei with biotic factors such as phytoplankton and main abiotic variables in lotic environments of the Upper Parana River floodplain. The four samples were taken quarterly during the year 2012. The Principal component analysis showed only spatial differences, as did a Canonical Correspondence Analysis. High densities of larvae were recorded in all samples the Parana River and Baia River only in December, especially those in their initial stage. In the biovolume of Class of algae, Bacillarophyceae showed the highest value, but Chlorophycea who was strongly correlated with the density of D-stage larvae. The large variety of phytoplankton, especially microplankton Chlorophyceae, high values of PO^sub 4^, NH^sub 4^ and temperature were positively correlated with high densities of D-stage larvae.