Dung beetle persistence in human-modified landscapes: Combining indicator species with anthropogenic land use and fragmentation-related effects |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, PE 50670-901, Brazil;2. Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Av. Prof. Moraes Rego, s/n, Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE 50670-901, Brazil;3. Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Departamento de Biologia e Zoologia, Cuiabá, MT 78060-900, Brazil;4. Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Av. Prof. Moraes Rego, s/n, Cidade Universitária, Recife, PE 50670-901, Brazil;1. Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Lynnwood Road, Hatfield, Pretoria, Gauteng, Private Bag X20, 0002, South Africa;2. Sustainability Research Unit, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, University Way, Private Bag x6531, George 6530, South Africa;3. Department of Plant Production and Soil Science, University of Pretoria, Lynnwood Road, Hatfield, Pretoria, Gauteng, Private Bag X20, 0002, South Africa;1. University Center Univates, Laboratory of Ecology and Evolution, R. Avelino Tallini, 95900-000 Lajeado, RS, Brazil;2. Federal University of Pará, R. Cel. José Porfírio, 2515, 68371-040 Altamira, PA, Brazil;3. Laboratory of Applied Ecology, CITAB—Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5000-911 Vila Real, Portugal;1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand;2. Systemic Conservation Biology, J.F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology & Anthropology, University of Göttingen, Berliner Str. 28, 37073 Göttingen, Germany;3. Department of Ecology, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand;4. Department of Zoology, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Blvd, Denver, CO 80205-5798, United States;5. CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Centre for Environment and Life Sciences, Underwood Ave, Floreat, WA 6014, Australia;6. School of Animal Biology, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia;1. Ecologia e Conservação de Invertebrados, Setor de Ecologia, Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil;2. Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, Lancashire, UK;3. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancon, Panama, Panama;4. Department of Environment, Earth and Ecosystems, The Open University, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK;5. Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK;6. Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais, Divinópolis, Minas Gerais, Brazil;7. MCTIC/Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Pará, Brazil;1. Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, Grupo de investigación Sistemática Biológica, Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Tunja, Colombia;2. Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Biologia e Zoologia, Cuiabá, MT, Brazil |
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| Abstract: | Identifying and making use of ecological indicators becomes an essential task in the conservation of tropical systems, mainly in fragmented landscapes where land use intensification and habitat loss are confounding factors in the detection of species’ responses to human-caused disturbance. We aimed to analyze the importance of anthropogenic land use and fragmentation-related effects on dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) persistence according to the interior–exterior non-linear gradient (forest + matrix) in a fragmented Atlantic Forest landscape used to sugar cane production and cattle ranching/farming. We offer scores for a comprehensive set of community-level attributes, from beetle abundance to taxonomic and ecological composition (i.e. species body size), including a list of indicator species of different forest habitats and adjacent matrix. Dung beetles were surveyed by traps across forest interiors (i.e. core forest areas) and edges of a primary forest, small fragments, sugar cane fields and pastures in a total of 60 sites. Indicator analyses were conducted across the landscape, using two well-established methods (IndVal and SIMPER). Our results suggest that (1) cross-habitat taxonomic distinctness is associated with the presence of indicator species, (2) some species benefit or are dependent of open habitats created by human-disturbances, such as forest edges (e.g. Canthon nigripennis) and matrices (e.g. Canthon aff. piluliformis, Dichotomius nisus and Trichilum externepunctatum), (3) although landscape habitats exhibit reduced beta diversity, dung beetle assemblages are spatially organized in response to the presence of both forest habitats and matrix and fragment area, (4) forest interior supports beetle assemblages biased toward large-bodied species, (5) accordingly forest interior, forest edges and matrix support taxonomically distinct assemblages, both contributing to the bulk of species richness at landscape level, (6) the response of dung beetles to the interior–exterior non-linear gradient (i.e. forest edge + matrix) reveals a similar pattern regardless of the nature of the matrix, and (7) there is no within-habitat variation in beetle abundance and species richness associated with distance from forest edge. Given that there is a high number of forest-dependent or forest-interior specialist species (e.g. Aphengium aff. sordidum, Ateuchus aff. alipioi, Dichotomius mormon, Ontherus aff. erosus and Onthophagus aff. clypeatus) dung beetle persistence in human-modified landscape is highly dependent on the presence of core areas, although edge-affected and matrix habitats may be complementary. This information is essential to permit a better prospect for dung beetle persistence in human-modified landscapes as they continue to move toward edge-dominated landscapes with intensively managed matrices. |
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| Keywords: | Agricultural frontiers Ecological indicators Forest-dependent species Matrix Scarabaeinae |
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