Concatenate urban biodiversity management and human population needs is one of the greatest society challenge, given the biological diversity loss and the urbanization process. In this sense, is necessary a discussion of how cities should develop public policies that have the biodiversity conservation as target. Here we showed some strategic plans (e.g. conservation units, environmental education) for urban biodiversity management with the involvement of different actors (e.g. universities, researchers, public governance) through three spheres: (i) politic, (ii) educative and (iii) ecological. He we also pointed the mainly challenges for urban biodiversity conservation and strategic plans for this end. The case of the Sorocaba Municipality, São Paulo State, Brazil was discussed and the mainly direct actions for the local biodiversity were explored. Stands out the need of the 'Resilient City' concept adoption, knowledge about the biota (i.e. flora and fauna) and local environmental characteristics respect during the actions formulation.

Aim: This paper is aimed at describing the changes of fish species in the middle and lower courses of the Tietê River, emphasizing rheophilic and invasive fish species as well as identifying the causes for such alterations. Methods Data collection consisted in: intense revision of publications, dissertations and thesis regarding the subject; information at the Zoology Museum at USP (MZUSP); revision in species identification through MUZUSP collection; historical survey of introduced species based on the literature and samplings in the years of 2000 and 2001. Results The main impacts identified in the Tietê River with consequence to the ichthyofauna were: domestic and industrial pollution, deforestation, damming, course rectification, silting and species introduction. From the 80 species identified in the study area, 28 were invasive. Many fish species have been introduced in the Tietê River since the late 19th Century with carpa (Cyprinus carpio) being the first one, followed by the introduction of black bass (Mycropterus salmonoides) at the beginning of 20th Century. Other species such as corvina (Plagioscion squamosissimus ) have been introduced by electricity companies, which has contributed to the species composition changes. Migratory species as dourado (Salminus brasiliensis ), pacú (Piaractus mesopotamicus) and pintado ( Pseudoplatystoma corruscans), which used to be abundant have become rare or absent after the construction of reservoirs, mainly because reservoirs in cascade have been built. Piracanjuba (Brycon orbignyanus), typically herbivore species, had its stock decreased due to the lack of ciliary vegetation and damming. Conclusions Following the building of the reservoirs there have been important alterations in the composition of ichthyofauna, leading to the nearly complete absence of migratory species and the prevalent species are the ones which adapted to the new conditions. In addition to the damming, lack of ciliary vegetation and pollution also caused alterations in the ichthyological community.

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The Neotropical region hosts 4225 freshwater fish species, ranking first among the world's most diverse regions for freshwater fishes. Our NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set is the first to produce a large‐scale Neotropical freshwater fish inventory, covering the entire Neotropical region from Mexico and the Caribbean in the north to the southern limits in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. We compiled 185,787 distribution records, with unique georeferenced coordinates, for the 4225 species, represented by occurrence and abundance data. The number of species for the most numerous orders are as follows: Characiformes (1289), Siluriformes (1384), Cichliformes (354), Cyprinodontiformes (245), and Gymnotiformes (135). The most recorded species was the characid Astyanax fasciatus (4696 records). We registered 116,802 distribution records for native species, compared to 1802 distribution records for nonnative species. The main aim of the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set was to make these occurrence and abundance data accessible for international researchers to develop ecological and macroecological studies, from local to regional scales, with focal fish species, families, or orders. We anticipate that the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set will be valuable for studies on a wide range of ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, fishery pressure, the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation, and the impacts of species invasion and climate change. There are no copyright restrictions on the data, and please cite this data paper when using the data in publications.