Forest fragment size effects on dung beetle communities?

Radtke, Meghan; Fonseca, Cláudio Ruy Vasconcelos da; Williamson, G. Bruce

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2007.11.010

Cited by 8 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…A key conclusion from BDFFP research is that nature reserves in Amazonia should ideally be very large, on the order of thousands to tens of thousands of square kilometers in area (Laurance, ; Peres, ). Only at this size will they be likely to maintain natural ecological processes and sustain viable populations of the many rare and patchily distributed species in the region (Ferraz et al, ; Radtke et al, ). Such large reserves will also provide greater resilience from rare calamities such as droughts (Feldpausch et al, ) and intense storms (Laurance et al, ), facilitate persistence of terrestrial and aquatic animals that migrate seasonally (Bührnheim & Fernandes, ) and buffer the reserve from external threats such as fires, large‐scale forest desiccation and human encroachment (Cochrane & Laurance, ; Briant et al, ).…”

Section: Lessons For Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Large reserves will also maximize forest carbon storage (Laurance et al, 1997, 1998 c ) and provide greater resilience to future climatic and atmospheric changes (Laurance, , ; Peres, ). Further, on the ancient, nutrient‐starved soils of central and eastern Amazonia, low plant productivity translates into low population densities of many animals, especially as one moves up the food chain, so reserves must be proportionately larger to harbour viable populations of these species (Radtke et al, ; Deichmann, Lima & Williamson, ; Deichmann et al, ). The recent observation that within‐species genetic variation of terrestrial vertebrates is higher in wilderness areas than in human‐disturbed habitats further underscores the value of large nature reserves for sustaining biological diversity and the capacity of species to adapt to future environmental insults (Miraldo et al, ).…”

Section: Lessons For Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This phenomenon is especially pronounced in the large expanses of the basin that overlay heavily weathered, nutrient-poor soils (e.g. Radtke, da Fonseca & Williamson, 2008). In these areas resources such as fruits, flowers and nectar are typically scarce and plants are heavily defended against herbivore attack (Laurance, 2001).…”

Section: (1) Sample Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Amazonian rainforest and its fragments as a laboratory of global change

et al. 2017

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We synthesize findings from one of the world's largest and longest-running experimental investigations, the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP). Spanning an area of ∼1000 km in central Amazonia, the BDFFP was initially designed to evaluate the effects of fragment area on rainforest biodiversity and ecological processes. However, over its 38-year history to date the project has far transcended its original mission, and now focuses more broadly on landscape dynamics, forest regeneration, regional- and global-change phenomena, and their potential interactions and implications for Amazonian forest conservation. The project has yielded a wealth of insights into the ecological and environmental changes in fragmented forests. For instance, many rainforest species are naturally rare and hence are either missing entirely from many fragments or so sparsely represented as to have little chance of long-term survival. Additionally, edge effects are a prominent driver of fragment dynamics, strongly affecting forest microclimate, tree mortality, carbon storage and a diversity of fauna. Even within our controlled study area, the landscape has been highly dynamic: for example, the matrix of vegetation surrounding fragments has changed markedly over time, succeeding from large cattle pastures or forest clearcuts to secondary regrowth forest. This, in turn, has influenced the dynamics of plant and animal communities and their trajectories of change over time. In general, fauna and flora have responded differently to fragmentation: the most locally extinction-prone animal species are those that have both large area requirements and low tolerance of the modified habitats surrounding fragments, whereas the most vulnerable plants are those that respond poorly to edge effects or chronic forest disturbances, and that rely on vulnerable animals for seed dispersal or pollination. Relative to intact forests, most fragments are hyperdynamic, with unstable or fluctuating populations of species in response to a variety of external vicissitudes. Rare weather events such as droughts, windstorms and floods have had strong impacts on fragments and left lasting legacies of change. Both forest fragments and the intact forests in our study area appear to be influenced by larger-scale environmental drivers operating at regional or global scales. These drivers are apparently increasing forest productivity and have led to concerted, widespread increases in forest dynamics and plant growth, shifts in tree-community composition, and increases in liana (woody vine) abundance. Such large-scale drivers are likely to interact synergistically with habitat fragmentation, exacerbating its effects for some species and ecological phenomena. Hence, the impacts of fragmentation on Amazonian biodiversity and ecosystem processes appear to be a consequence not only of local site features but also of broader changes occurring at landscape, regional and even global scales.

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Section: Lessons For Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Lessons For Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Amazonian rainforest and its fragments as a laboratory of global change

et al. 2017

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“…This phenomenon is especially pronounced in the large expanses of the basin that overlay heavily weathered, nutrient-poor soils (e.g. Radtke et al 2008), where resources such as fruits, flowers, and nectar are scarce and plants are heavily defended against herbivore attack ).…”

Section: Sample Effects Are Important In Amazoniamentioning

confidence: 99%

An Amazonian Forest and Its Fragments as a Laboratory of Global Change

et al. 2016

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“…When possible, linear measurements were made on at least five individuals for each species using calipers accurate to 0.1 mm. We derived beetle volume from their length using the highly significant relationship (r 2 ¼ 0.92, P ¼ 0.0002, N ¼ 350) obtained by Radtke et al 2008) from Amazonian species. Dung and carrion beetles were also separated into four different functional groups based on methods of resource removal and diel activity (Slade et al 2007): diurnal tunnelers, diurnal rollers, nocturnal tunnelers, and nocturnal rollers.…”

Section: Beetle Assemblage Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Size‐dependent species removal impairs ecosystem functioning in a large‐scale tropical field experiment

Dangles

Carpio

Woodward

2012

Ecology

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A major challenge of ecological research is to assess the functional consequences of species richness loss over time and space in global biodiversity hotspots, where extinctions are happening at an unprecedented rate. To address this issue, greater realism needs to be incorporated into both conceptual and experimental approaches. Here we propose a conceptual model that incorporates body size as a critical aspect of community responses to environmental change, which we tested in the Western Amazonian rain forest, one of the most speciose ecosystems on the planet. We employed an exclosure removal experiment (replicated under 10 microhabitats and four climatic conditions) in which we manipulated access to two types of resource by the whole community of dung and carrion beetles (> 60 species), depending on their size. Our 400 independent measurements revealed that changes in the number of species and functional groups, and temporal patterns in community composition, all affected resource burial rates, a key ecosystem process. Further, the functional contribution of species diversity in each size class was tightly dependent on beetle abundance, and while the role of large species could be performed by abundant smaller ones, and other naturally occurring decomposers, this was not the case when environmental conditions were harsher. These results demonstrate, for the first time in an animal assemblage in a tropical ecosystem, that although species may appear functionally redundant under one set of environmental conditions, many species would be needed to maintain ecosystem functioning at multiple temporal and spatial scales. This highlights the potential fragility of these systems to the ongoing global "Sixth Great Extinction," whose effects are likely to be especially pronounced in the Tropics.

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Forest fragment size effects on dung beetle communities?

Cited by 8 publications

References 4 publications

An Amazonian rainforest and its fragments as a laboratory of global change

An Amazonian rainforest and its fragments as a laboratory of global change

An Amazonian Forest and Its Fragments as a Laboratory of Global Change

Size‐dependent species removal impairs ecosystem functioning in a large‐scale tropical field experiment

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