Social Wasps in Exotic Forest Planting and Atlantic Rainforest in the Neotropical Region

Abstract

Social wasps play an important role in communities, whether in natural or agricultural ecosystems, performing pollination and/or predation on other organisms, especially caterpillars, which reveals their potential for biological control. We register species of predatory wasps found in a eucalypt reforested area compared with a native rainforest. Five species of social wasps were found: Agelaia myrmecophila (Ducke), Mischocyttarus punctatus (Ducke), Polistes carnifex (Fabricius), Polybia liliacea (Fabricius), and Polybia striata (Fabricius), with higher numbers in the eucalypt monoculture than in the Atlantic rainforest, suggesting no negative impact of the monoculture on the population of that natural enemies.

Social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) associated with Eucalyptus sp. plantations from an Altitude Field in Southern Minas Gerais State, Brazil

“…It is known that the simultaneous use of different sampling methods in Polistinae inventories increases sampling efficiency (Silva and Silveira 2009;Souza et al 2011;Clemente et al 2021) including in Eucalyptus sp. areas (Silva-Filho et al 2020). However, even with the maintenance of two uninterrupted years of Malaise traps, associated with the active search, the richness was low, which also reinforces the assertion built by the study that Altitude Field loses species, when modified by Eucalyptus spp.…”

“…(Ribeiro Jr. 2008;Elizei et al 2010;Souza et al 2011;Elisei et al 2012;Souza et al 2012). The presence of these species may be related to the availability of food throughout the year (Zanuncio et al 1993;Silva-Filho et al 2020), and with the fact that these agrosystems offer protection from natural predators and pressures arising from abiotic factors such as rain, wind and temperature variations (Souza et al 2012).…”