Ecosystem Disturbances and Diversity Increase: Implications for Invertebrate Conservation

Abstract

The Pantanal is one of the faunistic provinces considered as a priority area for invertebrate conservation. However, it is one of the areas in Brazil where the local fauna is less assessed, thus needing more scientific information that could allow political decisions to be made regarding conservation. The continuous pressure for new pasture areas leads to improper habitat occupation and destruction, like fragmentation of forest areas in the region. Such alterations can cause different impacts on the local fauna, including the soil arthropods. The main objective of this work was to compare the morphospecies composition, diversity and density of the soil arthropod fauna between a secondary single species forest (Cambarazal) and a cultivated pasture with exotic and native grass species, using only pitfall traps as sampling method. We found a great variation on the vegetal cover among environments. A higher humidity in the forest soil was observed, as well as a greater compaction of the soil in the cultivated pasture. A total of 3635 individuals were collected, belonging to 214 different morphospecies. 139 morphospecies were collected in the forest (37% exclusive to this environment), while 134 morphospecies were collected in the cultivated pasture (35% exclusive). The diversity was higher in the forest (H¢ = 1.634) than in the cultivated pasture (H¢ = 1.253). However, considering the area as a whole (forest and pasture) the global diversity was increased. In this paper we discuss about the effects of environmental changes on soil arthropod diversity and propose a hypothetical model for invertebrate management in mosaic ecosystems.

Burrowing seabird effects on invertebrate communities in soil and litter are dominated by ecosystem engineering rather than nutrient addition

“…This provides some of the first evidence that non-consumptive effects of predators can reach beyond individual species (e.g., Fill et al 2012;Hill and Weissburg 2013) to influence entire food webs. Our findings are also consistent with the literature pointing to the considerable susceptibility of soil and litter invertebrates to abiotic and biotic soil physical disturbance, especially the disturbance associated with cultivation (Hendrix et al 1986;Wardle 2002;Loyola et al 2006).…”

Structure and Composition of Edaphic Arthropod Community and Its Use as Bioindicators of Environmental Disturbance

“…Loyola et al (2006) found this same pattern when studying the invertebrate community in areas of forest and pasture in Pantanal wetlands, while Ferreira and Marques (1998) verified low similarity between litter arthropod communities of secondary forest and Eucalyptus monoculture, as well as, arthropod richness and diversity of secondary forest and Eucalyptus monoculture. All these results, therefore, corroborate with the evidences, that modifications of natural ecosystems caused by human activities generate changes in composition and structure of biological communities (Hillebrand et al, 2008).…”

Temporal stability of cavity‐nesting bee and wasp communities in different types of reforestation in southeastern Amazonia

“…For the cavity‐nesting species, the nest‐trap methodology is widely used for their monitoring since it allows to survey only the species that occur in the studied region, excluding those that are just transiting (Assis & Camillo 1997; Araújo et al 2018b; Araújo et al 2019). In natural environments, the community composition of bees and wasps is closely correlated with availability of food, nesting sites, and favorable microclimatic conditions (Loyola & Brito 2006; Tylianakis et al 2006; Araújo et al 2018b). Temporal variation in resources and environmental conditions over time is frequently reflected in variation in species composition (Matos et al 2016), acting as environmental filters that influence the colonization or persistence of healthy populations in disturbed habitats (Loyola & Martins 2006; Antonini et al 2016; Matos et al 2016; Araújo et al 2019).…”