Abstract
The environmental range has long been neglected. Species that play crucial roles for the good functioning of the planet have their activities jeopardized by human ignorance, but the emergence of a zoonotic disease (COVID-19) in December 2019 turned attention to an atypical fact: previously uncommon animals seen in urban environment began to frequent them looking for resources, this is due to the measures of confinement, distance and social isolation adopted in order to contain the spread of the virus. In this work, public squares located in the city of Sorocaba, inlands of São Paulo, were studied, regarding the richness of species, bioindicator groups (birds, butterflies and dragonflies) in three different periods: before the social isolation system coming into effect, during and after it, to analyze whether such measures had an influence on urban biodiversity. The Sorensen and Cluster (Jaccard estimator) analytics methods, Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (nMDS) and One-Way ANOVA variance analysis showed that, with the reclusion of the citizens, there were no significant difference in species abundance in the sampled locations during the three periods, but the lockdown was marked by the illustrious presence of a rare species butterfly (Greta oto [Hewitson 1854]), unregistered in previous surveys carried out in the municipality. It could be concluded that, although the functioning of urban ecosystems is intrinsically linked to human presence, the sudden decrease in the circulation of people and vehicles has had positive consequences for the environment richness inserted in cities.
Urban biodiversity: how the city can do its management?
