Early successional dynamics of ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) in the tropical dry forest ecosystem in Colombia

Abstract

Little is known about the successional dynamics of insects in the highly threatened tropical dry forest (TDF) ecosystem. For the first time, we studied the response of carabid beetles to vegetal succession and seasonality in this ecosystem in Colombia. Carabid beetles were collected from three TDF habitat types in two regions in Colombia: initial successional state (pasture), early succession, and intermediate succession (forest). The surveys were performed monthly for 13 months in one of the regions (Armero) and during two months, one in the dry and one in the wet season, in the other region (Cambao). A set of environmental variables were recorded per month at each site. Twenty-four carabid beetle species were collected during the study. Calosoma alternans and Megacephala affinis were the most abundant species, while most species were of low abundance. Forest and pasture beetle assemblages were distinct, while the early succession assemblage overlapped with these assemblages. Canopy cover, litter depth, and soil and air temperatures were important in structuring the assemblages. Even though seasonality did not affect the carabid beetle assemblage, individual species responded positively to the wet season. It is shown that early successional areas in TDF could potentially act as habitat corridors for species to recolonize forest areas, since these successional areas host a number of species that inhabit forests and pastures. Climatic variation, like the El Niño episode during this study, appears to affect the carabid beetle assemblage negatively, exasperating concerns of this already threatened tropical ecosystem.

Does a Rural-Urban Gradient Affect Arthropod Assemblages in an Arid Ecosystem?

“…A range of factors, such as local urbanization intensity, edaphic factors [67][68][69], vegetation cover, and flora [42,[70][71][72][73][74], contribute to variations in the distribution and composition of beetle species associations along Wadi Hanifa. As revealed by CCA, the most significant factors determining the distribution of beetles are urbanization intensities, elevation, soil organic contents, land cover, and flora.…”

“…A total of 23 characteristic beetles have been identified, which have an essential role in determining the structure of the beetle assemblage, as shown by the ordination results. Urban habitats have a high content of indicator species (10 species), perhaps due to the high number of plants and trees [73,74]. The perennial vegetation and the irrigation in unmanaged urban areas may act as source habitat for herbivores (e.g., M. insanabilis, P. algerinus, and Gonocephalum spp.)…”

What shapes ground beetle assemblages in a tree species-rich subtropical forest?

“…Pitfall trap catches for carabids seem to be low in most tropical evergreen forests (Vennila 1999(Vennila , 2000Maveety et al 2011;Qodri et al 2016). In comparison to Gutianshan NP, the dry tropics of Colombia host more species and greater abundance (Ariza et al 2021). Many of these tropical species occur mostly in the canopy.…”

Variación espacio-temporal de la diversidad de escarabajos Geadephaga (Coleoptera: Carabidae, Cicindelidae) en el bosque seco tropical del Caribe colombiano

“…Este fenómeno se atribuye a la calidad de la información geográfica en el momento en que se describió la mayoría de las especies (segunda mitad del siglo XIX), y al submuestreo (Arenas-Clavijo et al, 2022). A su vez, una buena porción de los trabajos realizados sobre aspectos ecológicos de los Geadephaga en Colombia proviene de ecosistemas relacionados con el bosque seco tropical (Arenas-Clavijo & Chacón de Ulloa, 2016;Ariza et al, 2021;Uribe & Vallejo, 2013).…”

“…), a través de la variación de sus atributos (e.g. la diversidad) (Ariza et al, 2021); así como las consecuencias de la fragmentación debido a la instauración de cultivos, plantaciones forestales y pastizales para la ganadería (Arenas-Clavijo & Chacón de Ulloa, 2016;Ariza et al, 2021;Camero, 2003;García-Suabita et al, 2019), sin embargo, poco se conoce sobre la variación espaciotemporal de este grupo en el Bs-T.…”