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

Abstract

Global initiatives to recover degraded areas have intensified in recent years. However, the effectiveness of different reforestation practices in restoring habitat stability and essential resources for species over time is poorly known. We tested the degree of temporal stability of bee and wasp communities reestablishiment in different types of forest regeneration compared to intact primary forest in southern Amazonia. Using trap-nest sampling, we collected, during 12 months, information about the nesting species in six different types of treatments: pastures, teak reforestation, fig and mixed native species, natural regeneration forest, and forest primary. We observed that in all reforested treatments, the abundance and richness of both bees and wasps were greater than in pasture sites. However, not all reforestation strategies had the same degree of effectiveness in maintaining the stability of bee and wasp communities over time than observed in primary forest communities. The high temporal variation in teak structure promoted high instability in bee and wasp communities over time. In contrast, reforestation using perennial species, such as fig or mixed species, resulted in a greater temporal stability of bee and wasp communities, although dissimilarity to primary forest remained high. Communities in natural regeneration were the most similar to primary forest, with high similarity of species composition and high temporal stability across seasons. Our findings suggest that reforestation strategies that promote increased complexity of vegetation structure, and better resemble "natural" forests in the provision of habitat resources throughout the year, will better restore and maintain communities through time.

Is being green what matters? Functional diversity of cavity‐nesting bees and wasps and their interaction networks with parasites in different reforestation types in Amazonia

“…Although our study was carried out in the tropical region, this helps to explain the high parasite richness and parasitism rate in teak. Even being a monoculture, reforestations with Tectona grandis present a temporal explosion of resources which promote a high variation in the occurrence of cavity‐nesting bees and wasps (Araújo et al ., 2020). Since host availability has been considered as a predictor of increased parasitism rate (Fox, 2004; Gamfeldt et al ., 2005), the high occurrence of bees and wasps in specific periods may have shaped the parasite's success in teak.…”

“…After emergence, we pinned the insects, quantified the number of cells built and identified the specimens. Voucher specimens were deposited in the Invertebrate Collection of the Federal University of Mato Grosso (Araújo et al ., 2020).…”

“…In the same period of revegetation, 500 ha of pasture were abandoned for their reversion in secondary forest by the process of natural succession, leaving 300 ha of active pasture for cattle grazing. The farm still has 7200 ha of primary forest (Araújo et al ., 2020). The climate of the region is the AW type, according to the Köppen classification (warm and humid), with an average annual temperature of 24°C, 85% humidity, and 2300 mm of precipitation (Rodrigues et al ., 2011).…”

“…1). Based on the typical foraging distances estimated for cavity‐nesting bees and wasps (Gathmann & Tsharntke, 2002; Klein et al ., 2004; Zurbuchen et al ., 2010), our sites were sampled at least 500 m apart from any other site to minimise spatial dependence among sites, following the distance used in previous bee and wasp works in the same study area (Araújo et al ., 2019, 2020). Site replicates of each forest type were also spatially interspersed among replicates of all other degraded forest types (Fig.…”

“…Bees and wasps together make up more than 40 000 species worldwide (Michener, 2000; O'Neill, 2001). Beyond to the variety of nesting behaviour (digging, natural cavities, exposed‐nesting, parasitic) (Krombein, 1967), social organisation (solitary, semi‐social, eusocial, cleptoparasites and parasitoids) (Silveira & Almeida, 2002) and larval diet (pollen, spiders, cockroaches, caterpillars and grasshoppers) (Krombein, 1967; Michener, 2000; O'Neill, 2001) that these Hymenoptera present, they play an important ecological and economic role in both natural and cultivated systems (Tylianakis et al ., 2005; Araújo et al ., 2018a,b, 2020; Flores et al ., 2019; Giannini et al ., 2020). Due to their pollination activities, bees are responsible for the reproduction of up to 90% of the species of flowering plants in tropical regions (Ollerton et al ., 2011) and 75% of cultivated plants (Klein et al ., 2007).…”