The presence of aggregates of A. reticulatum on Bauhinia has been reported, but the insects were mainly attended by ants of the genus Camponotus, and stingless bees were not regularly recorded in aggregations. We observed a colony of thetreehopper A. reticulatum and stingless bees, Trigona branneri, interacting on Bauhinia forficata (Fabaceae). Agonistic behavior was observed in bees when another individual of the same species or ants approached. Although this is not proof that the interaction between stingless bees and treehoppers is mutualistic, the interactions between ants and this insect are common and mutualistic. Thus, if T. branneri effectively provides protection for the aphids, a new mutualism can be the focus of future research to determine if the bee-aphid interactions have same ecological functions as the ant-aphid interactions.
The introduction of plant species is a central topic in restoration ecology research. It is an effective technique to restore degraded ecosystems that present low resilience, such as the rupestrian grasslands. Once implemented, the transplantation of native species is monitored only in the short term, whereas long-term monitoring should be preferred to identify potential changes in the restoration results. Our study is the first assessment of the transplantation success of 10 native shrub species in a degraded area of rupestrian grasslands, 8.5 years after transplantation. Survival, growth, and recruitment were assessed in 2004, 2008, and 2012. For all species, survival, growth, and recruitment varied over time. Although some species exhibited great mortality during the last 4 years, they also showed a great resprouting ability. Our results highlighted a trade-off between survival and recruitment capacity. Most of the studied species showed remarkable ability to adapt to the extreme environment of the degraded area, persisting either through surviving or recruiting new individuals. We list nine native species, which are well appropriated for rupestrian grasslands restoration. In constrained environments, survival and resistance should represent criteria to select species for restoration project rather than fast growth and ground cover.
Elevation creates a variety of physical conditions in a relatively short distance, which makes mountains suitable for studying the effects of climate change on biodiversity. We investigated the importance of climate and vegetation for the distribution of butterfl ies from 800 to 1400 m elevation. We sampled butterfl ies, and woody and rosette plants and measured air temperature and humidity, wind speed and gust, and solar radiation. We partitioned diversity to assess the processes underlying community shifts across altitudes -species loss versus replacement. We assessed the strength of the association among butterfl y, vegetation, and climate. Butterfl y richness and abundance decreased with altitude, and species composition changed along the elevation. Changes in butterfl y composition with altitude were mainly through species replacement and by abundance increases in some species being compensated by decreases in others. Since the fl oristic diversity decreased with altitude due to soil conditions, and butterfl ies are closely related to their host plants, this could explain species replacement with altitude. Overall, we found a stronger association of butterfl y community with vegetation than climate, but plant community and climate were also strongly associated between them. Butterfl y richness was more strongly associated with plant richness than with temperature, while the reverse was true for butterfl y abundance, which was more strongly associated with temperature than with plant richness. We must consider the complementary roles of resource and conditions in species distribution.
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