The consequences of over‐exploitation may seriously impair the integrity and functioning of ecosystems. When loss of species is accompanied by the loss of ecological processes, the effects are no longer just taxonomic and may affect the stability of the environments. Ornamental fishing is one of the main economic activities of the middle Negro River. Such activity is directed to a small number of species and has the Cardinal Tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi) as the main target species. Given the potential effects this pressure and the lack of information on its consequences, the present study analysed, through simulations, the possible effects of depletion of ornamental fish populations on the functional structure of fish assemblages, represented by functional diversity (FD) and functional redundancy (FR) indexes. We sampled 13 streams exploited by the ornamental fishery, where we collected 4,286 specimens of 110 species, of which 22 were targeted as ornamental fishing. We found that the ornamental species corresponded, on average, to 27.8% of the species and 33.3% of the FD of the assemblages. In a scenario of complete exclusion of ornamental species, local communities would lose 24.6% of the FD and reduce up to 12% of the FR. With these results, it is possible to infer that the local extinction of exploited species would cause negative impacts on the multifunctionality and the resilience of the streams ecosystems. In this way, we emphasise the need for proper management of the ornamental fisheries aiming to the sustainability of the activity and to the conservation of ecosystem functionality.

中文翻译：

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模拟观赏鱼的过度开发及其对亚马逊河流的功能结构的影响

过度开发的后果可能会严重损害生态系统的完整性和功能。当物种丧失伴随着生态过程的丧失时，其影响将不再仅仅是分类学上的，而可能会影响环境的稳定性。观赏捕鱼是中黑人河的主要经济活动之一。这种活动是针对少数物种的，并且具有红衣主教（Paracheirodon axelrodi）作为主要目标物种。考虑到这种压力的潜在影响以及其后果的信息不足，本研究通过模拟分析了观赏鱼种群耗竭对以功能多样性（FD）和功能冗余为代表的鱼群功能结构的可能影响。 （FR）索引。我们采样了由观赏渔业开发的13条溪流，在其中收集了110种的4,286个标本，其中22个标的是观赏渔业。我们发现观赏物种平均相当于该物种的27.8％和FD的33.3％。在完全排除观赏物种的情况下，当地社区将损失FD的24.6％，最多减少FR的12％。有了这些结果，可以推断，被剥削物种的局部灭绝会对河流生态系统的多功能性和复原力造成负面影响。这样，我们强调有必要对观赏渔业进行适当管理，以期维持活动的可持续性并保护生态系统功能。