Arthropod Facilitation by Wood-Boring Beetles: Spatio-temporal Distribution Mediated by a Twig-girdler Ecosystem Engineer

Abstract

The twig-girdler beetle Oncideres albomarginata chamela (Chemsak and Giesbert) (Cerambycidae: Lamiinae) detaches branches of Spondias purpurea L. (Sapindales: Anacardiaceae) that fall on the forest floor or remain suspended on vegetation. Many wood-boring beetles also oviposit in these branches and larval development creates cavities that are abandoned when the adults emerge. The objective of this study was to evaluate the role of wood-boring beetles as facilitators by creating new habitats for arthropods, and test for vertical stratification and temporal variation of arthropods associated with S. purpurea branches that were previously engineered by O. albomarginata chamela in a tropical dry forest (TDF) in Jalisco, Mexico. In order to determine the effects of vertical strata and seasons on branch colonization by arthropods, we placed 60 branches on the forest floor (ground stratum) and 60 were placed in trees (vegetation stratum) from February to April (dry season), and from August to October 2016 (rainy season), for 240 branch samples in total. We collected 8,008 arthropods, which included 7,753 ants (14 species) and 255 nonsocial arthropods (80 species) from 13 different orders. We observed a greater arthropod abundance in the branches in the vegetation stratum in the dry season compared with the rainy season, whereas the richness and abundance of arthropods in the ground stratum were greater in the rainy season compared with the dry season. We concluded that wood-boring beetles are important habitat facilitators for arthropods, and that the vertical position of branches and the seasonal variations in TDFs differently affect the colonization of the abandoned cavities by arthropods.

Seasonal diversity of Cerambycidae (Coleoptera) is more complex than thought: evidence from a tropical dry forest of Mexico

“…A dichotomic seasonal (transition between rainy and dry seasons) pattern differentiated by precipitation, has been observed in tropical regions for various groups of insects (Kishimoto-Yamada & Itioka, 2015; Novais et al, 2016) and for different families of beetles in the TDF (Toledo-Hernández et al, 2015; Macedo-Reis et al, 2016; Corona-López et al, 2017; Novais et al, 2018b). For the Cerambycidae communities, this pattern has been recognized in the TDF of different regions of Mexico (Noguera et al, 2002; Noguera et al, 2007; Noguera et al, 2009; Noguera et al, 2012; Toledo et al, 2002).…”

“…Cerambycidae beetles are of great ecological importance in forest ecosystems. Their larvae are saproxilophagous (saprophagous/xylophagous), and thus they are key species in the process of wood decomposition (Noguera & Chemsak, 1996; Hovore, 2006; Calderón-Cortés, Quesada & Escalera-Vázquez, 2011; Novais et al, 2018b). The imagos (adult stage) of different species feed on sap, leaves, flowers, fruits, bark and fungi (Monné & Bezark, 2015).…”

Arthropod facilitation mediated by abandoned dead domatia

“…At large scales, dead wood in the form of dying and dead trees, standing or fallen branches at different stages of decay are important resources (e.g., food, shelter, and breeding sites) for the conservation of a large number of species, such as saproxylic insects, lichens, bryophytes, birds, and mammals; Radu 2006). At a fine scale, we highlight the importance of dead plant tissues in the form dead branches attached on living trees and fallen branches hanged on vegetation as potential refugia that maintain arthropod diversity, which can be mediated by insects such as wood-boring beetles (Novais et al 2018) or through abandoned dead domatia as demonstrated in the present study.…”

“…A recent study conducted in the same tropical dry forest demonstrated the role of wood-boring beetles as important habitat facilitators for arthropods, which utilize the abandoned cavities made by beetle larvae during their development in the wood (Novais et al 2018). Comparing the arthropod community that reused both abandoned cavities (branches vs domatia), Novais et al (2018) found that spiders (115 individuals), centipedes (37), and crickets (30) were the most abundant nonsocial arthropods in a set of 240 Spondias purpurea L. (Anacardiaceae) branch samples. In the present study, we found only four spiders, seven centipedes, and no crickets within a total of 380 domatia samples.…”

“…Several insects modify plant structures to complete their life cycle, such as leafroller caterpillars, gall‐inducing insects, bark, and wood‐boring beetles. These new habitats might persist on plants and can be later used as shelter by other arthropods in a facilitative interaction process (Vieira and Romero 2013, Cornelissen et al 2016, Zuo et al 2016, Novais et al 2018). Particularly, ants can take advantage of the abandoned shelters made by other insects for nesting, such as wood‐boring beetle abandoned cavities (Tschinkel 2002, Satoh et al 2016, Novais et al 2017), senescent galls (Fernandes et al 1988, Mehltreter et al 2003, Almeida et al 2014, Santos et al 2017, 2019), and empty cocoons (Raath et al 2017).…”