The effects of four types of anthropogenic disturbances on composition and abundance of terrestrial isopods (Isopoda: Oniscidea)

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The Brazilian Atlantic Forest is currently reduced to about 12% of its original range. Among the components that make up its great diversity, there are species with the potential to be bioindicators, which can be very important for conservation-oriented studies. This study compares the species composition, abundance and sex ratio of terrestrial isopods in sites that show different anthropogenic disturbance histories and are located within four reserves in the Atlantic Forest of southwestern Brazil. Our study explores these crustaceans as indicators of anthropogenic disturbance.The influence of one of the following factors was explored in each protected area: 1) history of vegetation harvesting, 2) trail management, 3) Eucalyptus planting, and 4) edge effect. A total of 2,217 individuals of six species (Atlantoscia sp., Benthana werneri Lemos de Castro, 1958, Pseudodiploexochus tabularis (Barnard, 1932, Pudeoniscus obscures Lemos de Castro, 1973, Styloniscus spinosus (Patience, 1907, and Trichorhina sp.) were captured in pitfall traps. The composition of isopod species was different between most of the contrasting sites within reserves, and was similar among the less disturbed sites of different reserves. The total number of isopod individuals and the sex ratio were not different between the contrasting sites within most of the reserves and only the sex ratio of Atlantoscia sp. differed between contrasting sites of one protected area. Upon an individual analysis of each species, S. spinosus (an exotic species) was most abundant in more disturbed sites. The distributions of B. werneri and Atlantoscia sp. over time were relatively synchronous, except where S. spinosus was abundant. Our results also indicate that the exotic species S. spinosus may benefit from the vegetation mosaic produced by disturbance, so differences in abundance of this species may be useful for bioindication.A change in the spatial and temporal structure of Oniscidea communities caused by anthropogenic disturbance may have a cascade effect on ecological cycles because terrestrial isopods play a fundamental role in nutrient cycling.

The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project

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Macrofauna do solo em uma cronosequência de capoeiras, florestas e pastos no Centro de Endemismo Belém, Amazônia Oriental

“…Isopodas, por seu papel fundamental na ciclagem dos nutrientes, estão sendo usados como indicadores de perturbação antropogênica (Buchs 2003) e sua abundância total já foi relatada como sensível a perturbação, mas a composição específica revelou ser um indicador mais sensível (Magrini et al 2011). As formigas também são amplamente utilizadas como indicadores ambientais (Pais e Varanda 2010;Rousseau et al 2010), no entanto sua abundância ou diversidade total são raramente indicadores eficientes por causa da alta adaptabilidade das comunidades onde espécies se substituem frente às mudanças do ambiente.…”

Distribuição e abundância de isópodes gigantes Bathynomus (Crustacea, Isopoda, Cirolanidae) da Plataforma Continental Amazônica

“…A number of past studies have focused on Brazilian isopods, identifying a number of new occurrences in the Alagoas state (Loyola e Silva et al, 1994), describing new species from southern Brazil (Araújo & Buckup, 1996), identifiying a parasitic species in the Paraná State (Oliveira & Masunari, 2006), re-describing a species from the state of Minas Gerais (Thatcher Research, Society and Development, v. 9, n. 8, e974986843, 2020(CC BY 4.0) | ISSN 2525-3409 | DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v9i8.6843 et al, 2009 and recording a number of terrestrial isopods from the Brazilian Atlantic Fores (Magrini et al, 2011). Other researches focused on the genus Bathynomus, such as that of Cintra et al (1998) on the Northern coast of Brazil, Loyola e Silva (1999) in the Rio Grande do Sul state, and Magalhães & Young (2003) and Serejo et al (2006) in Southeastern Brazil.…”