Heterogeneidade do habitat, riqueza e estrutura da assembléia de besouros rola-bostas (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) em áreas de cerrado na Chapada dos Parecis, MT

Abstract

-Ecological theory of habitat heterogeneity and limited niche-similarity assumes that more heterogeneous environments provide a greater amount and diversity of resources than simple environments, resulting in a greater diversity of species. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the habitat heterogeneity on the richness of dung beetles and to examine the spatial patterns of assemblage structure in relation to patterns of habitat heterogeneity. Dung beetles were collected using pitfall traps without bait in 30 points distributed in an area of cerrado sensu lato, in the region of Tangará da Serra, MT, Brazil, including areas of cerrado sensu stricto, campo sujo, cerradão and gallery forest. A total of 1,291 dung beetles were collected, distributed in 16 genera and 29 species. Overall habitat heterogeneity exerted a negative effect on patterns of dung beetles richness. Higher levels of species richness were observed in areas of cerrado campo sujo, while the areas of gallery forest were the most species poor. Regarding assembly structure, it was found that the dung beetles were separated into two major groups, one formed by the presence of specialized species in forest areas and other composed of species that occurred predominantly in cerrado. In conclusion, it was found that habitat complexity infl uenced the distribution of dung beetles, but the level of turnover in species composition along the heterogeneity gradient was relatively weak.

Dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) persistence in Amazonian forest fragments and adjacent pastures: biogeographic implications for alpha and beta diversity

“…The large and abundant dung beetles of SFs are species with wide geographic distribution, including areas of Cerrado and pasture, e.g. D. bos, D. carbonarius, D. nisus and Eurysternus caribaeus (Louzada and Silva 2009;Silva et al 2010;Lopes et al 2011;Nunes et al 2012). Only six species of large forest specialists occurred in SFs, and only Dichotomius aff.…”

Rola-bostas (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) de florestas e pastagens no sudoeste da Amazônia brasileira: Levantamento de espécies e guildas alimentares

“…Além da redução e modificação do tipo de recurso alimentar disponível (Laurance et al 2011). Estes fatores exercem efeito na distribuição espacial dos besouros rola-bostas e influenciam na escolha e na preferência do habitat pelas espécies (Silva et al 2010). …”

“…Eles são capazes de perceber mudanças na estrutura do solo (Sowig 1995) e da vegetação (Durães et al 2005; Almeida e Louzada 2009) principalmente relacionadas a cobertura de dossel (Silva et al 2010). Estes besouros também respondem a alterações na composição da paisagem (Louzada et al 2010).…”

“…Estas mudanças na paisagem alteram a composição de espécies de besouros rola-bostas. Isto faz com que áreas vizinhas, mas com diferentes estruturas vegetacionais apresentem espécies diferentes de besouros rola-bostas (Almeida e Louzada, 2009;Silva et al 2010). Isto ocorre principalmente entre ambientes fechados (florestas) e ambientes abertos (cerrado, chaco ou pastagem) (Spector e Ayzama 2003;Scheffler 2005).…”

Scarabaeoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera) no Cerrado brasileiro: estado atual do conhecimento

“…A armadilha de queda (pitfall) pode ser utilizada sem isca (SILVA et al, 2010) ou pode conter iscas que atraem uma gama mais específi ca de besouros denominados copronecrófagos. Os tipos de iscas mais utilizados foram fezes humanas (ALMEIDA et al, 2011;BORGES et al, 2011), fezes bovinas (AIDAR et al, 2000;KOLLER et al, 1999;KOLLER et al, 2007) …”