Abstract
The fragmentation process that has altered natural environments has been widely discussed, as it causes changes in communities and compromises different environmental functions. In this sense, this study was based on the evaluation of fragmentation on araneofauna of semideciduous seasonal forest fragments, phytophysiognomy belonging to the Atlantic Forest. The study was conducted in three fragments in the municipality of Inconfidentes, southern Minas Gerais, from April 2014 to March 2015. The results showed that there is a similarity in the composition of spider species among the sampled fragments and that the size of the fragment is positively correlated with species richness. Our data show that smaller fragments must be preserved and that agricultural areas maintain the integrity of adjacent forest areas to benefit from the predation dynamics that spiders exert on pests that affect plantations.
Highlights
The Atlantic Forest has suffered severely from the fragmentation process due to anthropogenic activities, such as the conversion of land use to livestock and agriculture, as well as wood extraction and human occupation, which alters the dynamics of biological communities, and it is not foreseen in continuous natural systems (MYERS, 1980; NOSS; CSUTI, 1994; DEAN, 1996; LAURANCE; BIERREGAARD, 1997)
The effect of fragmentation on spider richness (Arachnida: Araneae) in montane semideciduous seasonal forest and they can be used in biological control programs of agricultural pests (SUNDERLAND; SAMU,2000; HANNA; ZALOM; ROLTSCH, 2003), including in Brazil (RINALDI; MENDES; CADY, 2002; OTT; OTT; WOLFF, 2007; RODRIGUES; MENDONCA; OTT, 2008)
Brazil has the highest spider biodiversity in the neotropical region, with approximately 3,203 species distributed in 659 genera belonging to 72 families (BRESCOVIT; OLIVEIRA; SANTOS, 2011)
Summary
The Atlantic Forest has suffered severely from the fragmentation process due to anthropogenic activities, such as the conversion of land use to livestock and agriculture, as well as wood extraction and human occupation, which alters the dynamics of biological communities, and it is not foreseen in continuous natural systems (MYERS, 1980; NOSS; CSUTI, 1994; DEAN, 1996; LAURANCE; BIERREGAARD, 1997).This process affects ecosystems negatively (LAURANCE, VASCONCELOS, 2009), causing the extinction of species and compromising different environmental services, such as pollination, seed dispersion, biological control, and nutrient recycling (RUSCHEINSKY, 2004; HANSKI et al, 2013).To evaluate the impacts of forest fragmentation, Uetz (1976) suggests the use of arthropods because they are easy to sample, small (easy to transport and store), abundant and diverse, and are quite important in the cycle of nutrients and energy flow in ecosystems, especially the spiders.The order Araneae represents, in the numberof species, the second largest order of arachnids and the seventh of the Reino Animalia, with 48,385 species and 4,165 genera distributed in 120 families (PLATNICK, 2020).They are of great ecological importance because they are generalist and abundant predators in different terrestrial ecosystems (SANDIDGE, 2004; VITT; CALDWELL, 2013), The effect of fragmentation on spider richness (Arachnida: Araneae) in montane semideciduous seasonal forest and they can be used in biological control programs of agricultural pests (SUNDERLAND; SAMU,2000; HANNA; ZALOM; ROLTSCH, 2003), including in Brazil (RINALDI; MENDES; CADY, 2002; OTT; OTT; WOLFF, 2007; RODRIGUES; MENDONCA; OTT, 2008).Brazil has the highest spider biodiversity in the neotropical region, with approximately 3,203 species distributed in 659 genera belonging to 72 families (BRESCOVIT; OLIVEIRA; SANTOS, 2011). The Atlantic Forest has suffered severely from the fragmentation process due to anthropogenic activities, such as the conversion of land use to livestock and agriculture, as well as wood extraction and human occupation, which alters the dynamics of biological communities, and it is not foreseen in continuous natural systems (MYERS, 1980; NOSS; CSUTI, 1994; DEAN, 1996; LAURANCE; BIERREGAARD, 1997) This process affects ecosystems negatively (LAURANCE, VASCONCELOS, 2009), causing the extinction of species and compromising different environmental services, such as pollination, seed dispersion, biological control, and nutrient recycling (RUSCHEINSKY, 2004; HANSKI et al, 2013). The number should be higher, considering the geographical area, the diversity of ecosystems, and the scarcity of studies (BRESCOVIT, 1999), even though inventory work has increased in recent decades (OLIVEIRA, 2011)
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