Entomofauna at the family level as bioindicators in four forest compositions in the south region of Brazil

Abstract

It is estimated that there are a total of 7 million insect species in the world filling the most different environments and that their populations are influenced by the environment in which they live and, therefore, it is a group that has been used in studies on the quality of the environment. This work aimed to study the diversity of the entomofauna at the family level in 4 forest compositions, identifying differences between areas and in 4 periods of the year. We installed 1 transect with 6 sampling points composed of 2 types of traps (pitfall and Carvalho-47) in the following forest compositions: preserved Mixed Ombrophylous Forest (FOM), Pinus taeda reforestation, managed FOM, and a plantation of Ilex paraguariensis. A total of 3,474 insects were collected between the years 2015 and 2016. Family diversity was calculated using Shannon's index for each sampling point in the evaluated areas. The diversity of families was statistically higher in the preserved FOM and lower in P. taeda reforestation, indicating that the diversity of families is impacted by severe changes in the environment because changes in ecological niches can influence the entomofauna community.