Effectiveness of ant communities to detect anthropogenic disturbance in Neotropical forest landscapes: a case study in the Brazilian Amazon

Linking disturbances in neotropical landscapes with ecosystem functional traits: A preliminary assessment using epigaeic and leaf‐litter ant communities

“…For example, pristine ecosystems have greater canopy cover, soil litter accumulation and plant diversity, and these variables positively influenced specialised functional groups, such as forest specialists, non-leaf-cutting Attini and cryptic predators. On the other hand, the higher functional richness and functional redundancy were particularly related with specific ecosystems within the landscape (da Silva et al, 2022). Both are interlinked, for example, cattle trampling in grassland areas contributes to soil compaction, resulting in reduced pathways through the litter layer, hiding surfaces and diversity of food sources.…”

“…The primary forest myrmecofauna, largely characterised by specialised competitive traits, tend to be replaced by omnivorous and generalist traits favoured by novel niches (Apolinário et al, 2019; García‐Martínez et al, 2015). Trampling by livestock, agricultural machinery and vegetation control cause additional simplification of ecosystems, inevitably limiting the range of available niches (da Silva et al, 2022). Cocoa plantations are an exception to this situation probably due to the nature of this agroforestry system, which provides a habitat that is similar to secondary forests in environmental conditions and structure, namely tree canopy cover, understory layer and litter accumulation (da Silva et al, 2018).…”

“…Both are interlinked, for example, cattle trampling in grassland areas contributes to soil compaction, resulting in reduced pathways through the litter layer, hiding surfaces and diversity of food sources. Additionally, reduced vegetation cover affects the maintenance of water balances of ant species (da Silva et al, 2022). Thus, our results are consistent with those observed in other systems, where reduced complexity (especially those ecosystems without tree canopy cover) has been associated with reduced ant diversity and functionality (e.g.…”

Toward a standardized methodology for sampling dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) in the Neotropics: A critical review

“…Trap spacing had an astonishing range, from two to 1,000 m apart. Nonetheless, most studies (more than 80%) spaced traps up to 50 m. Standardized trap spacing guarantees accurate ecological comparisons among ecological studies (Larsen and Forsyth, 2005;Noriega and Fagua, 2009;da Silva and Hernández, 2015; but see Moctezuma, 2021). Dung beetle trap spacing relates to the study sampling unit: studies in which traps are treated as individual samples require spatial independence, while studies that consider a set of traps as a sample need spatial independence among samples.…”

“…Different insect groups are often referred as bioindicators because of their relative ease of capture and standardized methodology, rapid response to environmental degradation, and cost efficiency ratio . Recent studies have included dragonflies (Silva et al, 2021), ants (Pérez-Espona, 2021;da Silva W. B. et al, 2022), and butterflies (Doré et al, 2021) as bioindicators, among others.…”