Beetle Diversity Research Articles

Keanekaragaman dan kelimpahan kumbang daun (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) pada empat tipe penggunaan lahan yang berbeda di Taman Nasional Bukit Duabelas dan Hutan Harapan, Provinsi Jambi

Deforestrasi memberikan dampak perubahan ekosistem dan biodiversitas. Perubahan tata guna lahan diketahui dapat memberikan dampak perubahan pada keanekaragaman dan populasi serangga, seperti semut dan kumbang di Provinsi Jambi. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mempelajari keanekaragaman, kelimpahan, dan komposisi kumbang daun di lanskap Taman Nasional Bukit Duabelas (TNBD) dan Hutan Harapan. Koleksi serangga dilakukan menggunakan metode pengasapan. Sebanyak empat plot dipilih dari masing-masing tipe penggunaan lahan dan masing-masing plot ditentukan tiga subplot. Serangga yang jatuh ditampung dalam wadah (1 m x 1 m) yang telah dipasang di bawah kanopi sebelum pengasapan. Sampel serangga disortir dan diidentifikasi di Laboratorium Pengendalian Hayati, Departemen Proteksi Tanaman, Fakultas Pertanian, IPB University. Total kumbang daun yang diperoleh adalah 1.040 individu yang terdiri atas 6 subfamili dan 127 morfospesies. Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa kelimpahan dan keanekaragaman kumbang daun dipengaruhi oleh tipe penggunaan lahan lahan, tetapi tidak dengan lanskap yang berbeda.

It takes a community to maintain a tree hollow: Food web complexity enhances decomposition and wood mould production

AbstractVeteran trees are keystone structures and play vital roles in ecosystems. Tree hollows, which are filled with a mix of leaves and wood that is transformed by the biotic community into wood mould, represent an important microhabitat. Tree hollow communities consist of three major groups of organisms: microbes, mesofauna (nematodes, mites and springtails) and macrofauna (beetles, millipedes and other insects). Little is known about the interplay between associated biota and their importance for decomposition and wood mould production. The aim of this study was to test how initial food web complexity in artificial tree hollows influences community structure, decomposition, and wood mould production. We used large wooden boxes to imitate natural hollows, and mounted them on 20 veteran oaks in Southern Norway. The food webs were manipulated into three levels: (i) a complex community with macrofauna and mesofauna, (ii) a simple community without macrofauna, and (iii) only the defaunated material. Three boxes (one of each treatment, N = 60 boxes) were mounted on each oak and left in the field from May 2017 to October 2019 (28 months). After the field experiment, macrofauna and mesofauna were collected and identified, mass loss in the boxes was determined, and nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in the wood mould were measured. We found that the complex community treatment had the greatest diversity of beetles and the highest number of predatory macrofauna. The nematodes within the complex community treatment had greater trophic structuring with K‐selected species associated with stable conditions. The nematodes communities also indicated that the complex community had a balanced decomposition pathway, while the simple community was dominated by fungi and the defaunated community by bacteria. Lastly, we found that the boxes with the complex community treatment had the highest overall rate of mass loss, and greater amounts of wood mould with higher concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus. Our results indicate that macrofauna in artificial hollows increase trophic structuring, enhance decomposition rates and wood mould production, and mediate the decomposition pathway. These findings highlight the importance of food web complexity for promoting biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in veteran tree hollows.Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Interactive effects of rangeland management and rainfall on dung beetle diversity

Interactive effects of rangeland management and rainfall on dung beetle diversity

Effect of Conservation Agriculture on Aphid Biocontrol by Generalist (Carabid Beetle) and Specialist (Parasitoids Wasp) Natural Enemy Communities in Winter Wheat

Adoption of practices that reduce the risk of pest outbreaks is one of the pillars of agroecology and is largely based on biological control. Multiple infield and landscape parameters affect biocontrol, but the effects of conservation soil management on biological control have been poorly investigated over crop season. By comparing winter wheat fields within the same landscape but with different soil management, the direct and indirect effects of soil management (conservation and conventional systems) on natural enemies’ communities and their biological control on aphids was studied from the tillering stage to the harvest. In addition to aphid infestation, two families of the main natural enemies’ guilds were monitored, as well as their associated services: aphid parasitoid, a specialist and flying natural enemy, with parasitism service, and carabid beetles, a generalist and ground-dwelling predator, with aphidophagy service. Soil conservation system hosted more abundant and diverse carabid beetles’ assemblages, and received higher aphidophagy service in June than conventional system. However, neither parasitoid abundance, nor parasitism rates, were affected by soil management. Aphid infestation and its associated damage did not depend on soil management either. Our results suggest that ground-dwelling natural enemies are more impacted by soil management than foliage-dwelling natural enemies, which is partly reflected in aphid biocontrol. In agricultural systems with reduced soil perturbation, direct mortality on ground-dwelling communities due to tillage may be lower than in a conventional system, but habitat heterogeneity is also greater, increasing the number of ecological niches for natural enemies. Both factors are supposed to favor an early presence of natural enemies and a tendency toward a precocious aphidophagy service is indeed observed in conservation system.

On how the abandonment of traditional forest management practices could reduce saproxylic diversity in the Mediterranean Region

Forests of the Mediterranean Basin provide a wide range of provisioning and regulating services that are currently jeopardised by land-use change. Although many ecosystem services are mediated by insects, most of the studies that have focused on how to enhance diversity in traditionally managed forests are about plants and vertebrates. Quercus pyrenaica woodlands of the Western Iberian Peninsula constitute a scenario in which traditional human practices (i.e., extensive livestock grazing, pollarding, firewood, forest thinning, etc.), and their progressive abandonment, have generated differences in landscape that affect habitat and microhabitat structures. We used saproxylic beetles (deadwood-dependent species) as biological indicators because they are the most diverse taxa and provide important ecosystem services related to deadwood decomposition, forest pest control and pollination. We modelled the response of two taxonomic (species richness and abundance), one ecological (species diversity of order 1) and two functional (functional richness and redundancy) diversity metrics to the environmental variables that result from traditional management or its abandonment at habitat and microhabitat levels. We included 16 explanatory variables related to forest structure, tree microhabitats and abiotic factors, which were grouped into eight principal components. Linear regression was the best fitting model for data. The resulting models were used to perform diversity predictions in different scenarios. We found that abandonment of some traditional forest management activities in the Mediterranean Region reduced taxonomic saproxylic beetle diversity, which may be further aggravated by climate change. We suggest minimal management actions to improve taxonomic and ecological saproxylic beetle diversity related to habitat and tree management (i.e., maintenance of >20% scrub coverage, >20 m3/ha of deadwood on soil and >20 hollow trees/ha). However, actions that boost saproxylic biodiversity do not ensure the community’s higher functional resilience. We should also promote tree microhabitat diversity to reduce the vulnerability of saproxylic beetle functions to environmental changes.

THE GROUND BEETLES (COLEOPTERA: CARABIDAE) IN HIGHLANDS OF THE WESTERN PART OF STANOVOY RANGE, RUSSIA

The article presents for the first time the data on the species diversity of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in the western part of the Stanovoy Range located on the border between Amurskaya oblast and Yakutia. Totally, 27 species in 11 genera, 10 tribes and five subfamilies were found in the headwaters of the Bolshiye Tuksani River. Most species of ground beetles live in high mountain tundra at an altitude of 1700–1900 m; 7 species were found in larch forests, and only two species of the genus Nebria are associated exclusively with pebbles along the banks of the river.

Aquatic beetle diversity from Volcán Tacaná, Mexico: altitudinal distribution pattern and biogeographical affinity of the fauna.

Results of an aquatic beetle survey at Volcán Tacaná, Mexico, are presented with five altitudinal levels in a monthly sampling regime, aiming to estimate both diversity and altitudinal distribution patterns of the aquatic beetle fauna. The first list of aquatic beetle species from this mountain is presented, comprising 40 species in 32 genera and nine families, with four species recorded for the first time from Mexico and six recorded for the first time from Chiapas. The aquatic beetle fauna is characterized by Elmidae with 20 species, Dytiscidae with eleven species, Dryopidae with three, and Epimetopidae, Hydraenidae, Hydrophilidae, Gyrinidae, Lutrochidae, and Noteridae with one species each. The species composition through the sampled altitudinal gradient (670-1,776 m) was not homogeneous, with the elmid genera Macrelmis, Heterelmis, Microcylloepus, and Austrolimnius present at all levels, while Hexanchorus, Neoelmis, and Onychelmis were present at levels 1-3 (673-1,214 m); dytiscids were mostly present at levels 4 and 5 (1,619-1,776 m), and dryopids were present only at levels 1-3. A Parsimony Analysis of Endemicity supports a general partition between altitudinal levels 1-3 and levels 4 + 5.

The influence of biodiversity-friendly ranching practices on dung beetle diversity in a Mexican mountainous tropical landscape

The influence of biodiversity-friendly ranching practices on dung beetle diversity in a Mexican mountainous tropical landscape

Lower alpha, higher beta, and similar gamma diversity of saproxylic beetles in unmanaged compared to managed Norway spruce stands.

Strong anthropogenic pressures on global forests necessitate that managed forests be evaluated as habitat for biodiversity. The complex pattern of habitat types created in forestry systems is ideal for analyses through the theoretical framework of alpha (local), gamma (total) and beta (compositional) diversity. Here I use saproxylic beetles, a species-rich threatened group, to compare four Norway spruce-dominated habitats representative of the boreal forest landscape of northern Europe: unmanaged semi-natural stands, nature reserves, unthinned middle-aged production stands and commercially thinned production stands. The beetles (in total 38 085 individuals of 312 species), including red-listed ones and three feeding guilds (wood consumers, fungivores and predators) were studied in 53 stands in central-southern Sweden, in two regions with differing amounts of conservation forest. Alpha diversity of saproxylic, but not red-listed, beetles was higher in the thinned stands than in the semi-natural stands, and did not differ for the other forest types. Beta diversity of saproxylic beetles was higher in unmanaged semi-natural stands than in the other forest types, but species composition did not differ noticeably. Furthermore, red-listed saproxylic beetles had higher gamma diversity in unmanaged semi-natural stands in the region with more conservation forest, but not in the one with less such forest. The local factors dead wood volume and dead wood diversity did not influence alpha diversity of beetles, but increasing canopy openness had a minor negative influence on saproxylic and red-listed beetles. While the local scale (alpha diversity) indicates the potential for managed forests to house many saproxylic beetle species associated with spruce forests in this boreal landscape, the larger scales (beta and gamma diversity) indicate the value of unmanaged forests for the conservation of the entire saproxylic beetle fauna. These results show the importance of analyses at multiple levels of diversity (alpha, beta, gamma) for identifying patterns relevant to conservation.

Beetle (Coleoptera) communities inside and outside the pest-resistant fencing of a New Zealand ecosanctuary

ABSTRACT The ecological impacts of invasive mammals are widely documented around the world. In New Zealand, fencing designed to exclude non-native mammals is used for conservation and restoration efforts. The Orokonui Ecosanctuary is a 307-hectare coastal Otago reserve (Dunedin, New Zealand) that is surrounded by mammal-exclusion fencing. The goal of the present study was to investigate how excluding mammals and including (native) animals inside the Orokonui Ecosanctuary fence has influenced ground- and litter-dwelling beetle (Coleoptera) abundance, diversity, and community composition. We hypothesised that beetle abundance, diversity, and community composition would be different whether the beetles sampled were from sites inside the fence or outside the fence. Beetles were extracted from the litter and soil of six sites (three inside, three outside) two times (once in winter, once in summer). The abundance, diversity, species composition, size distribution, and trophic guild distribution of beetles inside and outside the fence and between seasons were compared. Our results suggest that sites inside the fence harbour a greater abundance and diversity of beetles. We found a high abundance of native beetles both inside and outside the Orokonui Ecosanctuary’s fence. Further research may find evidence that the fenced sanctuary is providing a ‘halo effect’ whereby native beetles thriving within the Orokonui Ecosanctuary are spreading out into the surrounding landscape and also outcompeting introduced beetles.

Public LiDAR data are an important tool for the detection of saproxylic insect hotspots in Mediterranean forests and their connectivity

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is a remote sensing technique with multiple uses throughout scientific fields. It can also be used to transfer point data measured in the field to broader spatial scales, which might enable the evaluation of habitats over large areas and define biodiversity hotspots. Our study took place in Cabañeros National Park, which is situated in the Mediterranean, namely, central Spain, and its vegetation is dominated by forest and impenetrable scrubland. LiDAR was used to detect veteran trees as key elements for a highly diverse saproxylic community. The saproxylic beetle community inhabiting tree hollows was studied among different forest types and habitats to determine its preferences. We identified potential hotspots for the saproxylic beetle community of tree hollows both inside and outside of the park, as well as the connectivity of suitable habitat patches. This was based on the species response to the spatial partitioning of the landscape. We found that not all potentially suitable forest types hosted the same saproxylic diversity or similar species compositions. In addition, forest distribution and connectivity inside and outside of the park also varied highly among forest types and habitats, where the most diverse deciduous oak forest was also the least connected together with the riparian forest. The evergreen oak forest could act as a habitat linkage for most of the threatened and less mobile species in the park. However, the low connectivity of the most diverse forest types in the park surroundings can compromise the persistence of saproxylic diversity in the near future. We concluded that LiDAR data were an effective tool for estimating saproxylic beetle diversity distribution over large-scale areas in the context of landscapes with low accessibility. Additionally, this tool allowed us to identify the most threatened forest types and critical patches for connectivity persistence where management practices capable of accelerating tree veteranisation could help to increase adequate forest connectivity in the region.

The Influence of Landscape Composition on The Diversity and Abundance of Beetles in Rice Cultivation

The objectives of this study were to examine the characteristics of the landscape at each research site to examine the diversity, abundance, and composition of beetles; to examine the effect of management practices and habitat conditions, and to examine the relationship between landscape composition and beetle diversity and abundance at 14 research sites. The research was conducted from January 2022 to March 2022 in 14 rice farming locations spread across West Sumatra, Central Java, and East Java. Sampling was done by installing light traps at each location, mapping the landscape condition, and characterizing the landscape by conducting a ground survey at a radius of 500 m from the observation plot by recording various types of land use and then digitizing it with the QGIS application version 3.24.1. This study used analysis of variance and regression analysis. The results showed that plantations, agriculture, forests, and settlements dominated the land use types. The total number of beetles was 12,653, consisting of 10 families and 24 morphospecies. The cultivation method that influences the diversity of beetles is the application of fertilizer, while the landscape composition that affects species diversity is natural habitat and class area plantation.

Drought-induced forest dieback increases taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of saproxylic beetles at both local and landscape scales

Drought-induced forest dieback increases taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of saproxylic beetles at both local and landscape scales

Effect of Pine Forest Management on the Diversity of Ambrosia Beetles (Curculionidae: Platypodinae and Scolytinae) in East Java, Indonesia

In Indonesia, Pinus merkusii, the Sumatran pine, is the most important forest tree in the industry. This study aimed to determine the effects of pine forest types and sites on the abundance of ambrosia beetles in four pine forest types and sites, i.e., the protected pine forest (PF1 & PF2), the pine forests-based agroforestry (PA1 & PA2), the tapped-pine forests (TP1 & TP2), and the non-tapped pine forests (NP1 & NP2). The environmental variables and the stand-ages were also studied related to the number of ambrosia beetle individuals and species. Twenty ethanol baited traps were installed to attract and collect the ambrosia beetles in each pine forest site. The descriptive analysis, the nested analysis of variance, and correlation analysis were applied to determine the differences in ambrosia beetle abundance between the pine forest sites, the relationship between the stand-age, humidity, elevation, and temperature to the number of individuals and species of ambrosia beetle, and species diversity of ambrosia beetles in each pine forest type. The Jaccard distance was calculated to investigate the dissimilarity between each pine forest site based on the ambrosia beetle species composition and abundance. The 999 ambrosia beetles (15 species) were reported in this study. Two were Platypodinae, and 13 were Scolytinae subfamilies. Xyleborinus andrewesi was the most abundant ambrosia beetle. The abundance of ambrosia beetles was significantly different between pine forest types (F = 89.23, p < 0.001). The population of ambrosia beetles was the highest in the protected pine forest, and the lowest one was identified in the non-tapped pine forest and the pine forest-based agroforestry. Based on the pine forest types, the highest number of ambrosia beetle species was in the protected pine forest (13 species), and the lowest one was in the pine forest-based agroforestry (7 species). The highest and the lowest numbers of ambrosia beetles were in the protected pine forest site 2 (11 species) and in the pine forest–based agroforestry site 2 & the non-tapped pine forest site 1 (3 species). The highest dissimilarity was shown by the highest distances between the pine forest-based agroforestry site 1 and the non-tapped pine forest site 1 based on the Jaccard distance. The stand-age, humidity, and temperature potentially effected the number of ambrosia beetle individuals and species. The elevation also indicated to influence the number of ambrosia beetle individuals however it isn’t happened on the number of ambrosia beetle species. This study contributes to identify the suitable pine forest types related to the ambrosia beetle management.

Landscape attributes shape dung beetle diversity at multiple spatial scales in agricultural drylands

Land-use change is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss worldwide, but its negative effects can vary depending on the spatial scale analyzed. Considering the continuous expansion of agricultural demand for land, it is urgent to identify the drivers that shape biological communities in order to balance agricultural production and biodiversity conservation in human-modified landscapes. We used a patch-landscape design and a multimodel inference approach to assess the effects of landscape composition and configuration at two spatial scales (patch and landscape) on the structure of dung beetle assemblages. We performed our study in the Caatinga, the largest dry forest in South America. We sampled 3,526 dung beetles belonging to 19 species and 11 genera. At patch scale, our findings highlight the positive relationship of forest cover and landscape heterogeneity with dung beetle diversity, which are the major drivers of beetle assemblages. Edge density, in turn, is a major driver at the landscape scale and has a negative effect on beetle diversity. Our results support the hypothesis that landscapes combining natural vegetation remnants and heterogeneous agricultural landscapes are the most effective at conserving the biodiversity of dung beetles in the Caatinga landscapes. Directing efforts to better understand the dynamics of dung beetles in agricultural lands can be helpful for policymakers and scientists to design agri-environment schemes and apply conservation strategies in tropical dry forests.

Three new troglobitic Coarazuphium (Coleoptera, Carabidae, Zuphiini) species from a Brazilian hotspot of cave beetles: exploring how the environmental attributes of caves drive ground-beetle niches

Three new species of troglobitic beetles of the genusCoarazuphiumare described from specimens collected in iron ore caves in the Flona de Carajás in Brazil, doubling the number of known species for the Carajás region. The new species ofCoarazuphiumare morphologically similar to the already described species from the same region and are distributed in a small geographic range. From allCoarazuphiumspecies of the region, including the new ones, two stand out,C. spinifemurandC. xingusp. nov., which are the smallestCoarazuphiumspecies. Both species have shorter legs and antennae when compared to the others. The main characteristic that differentiatesC. xikrinsp. nov.andC. kayaposp. nov.from the other two species from the Carajás region,C. tapiaguassuandC. amazonicum, is that the new species have more numerous setigerous punctures dorsally on the head. With the three new species added to the six already described congeners, the area of intense mining of the Carajás region includes the highest diversity of obligatory cave-dwelling beetles in Brazil, representing a hotspot of cave beetles.Coarazuphium xikrinsp. nov.andC. amazonicumco-occur in some of the caves of the Carajás region, which is possible due to putative niche differentiation between the species. These findings highlight the importance of maintaining legal provisions that ensure the preservation of caves, especially those most relevant regarding physical and biotic aspects, which is crucial for the conservation of Brazilian subterranean biodiversity.

Ivermectin impacts on dung beetle diversity and their ecological functions in two distinct Brazilian ecosystems

Abstract The indiscriminate use of Ivermectin is becoming a frequent scenario in Brazil, one of the largest beef cattle herds in the world, and the second‐highest commercial production, despite this product having harmful effects on non‐target organisms. Among these organisms, dung beetles are essential for the maintenance of ecosystem functioning in introduced pastures. This study evaluated the effects of Ivermectin on dung beetle assemblage attributes (species richness, abundance, species composition, functional groups and indicator species) as well as their ecological functions (dung removal and soil bioturbation) in introduced pastures with different priorities for livestock intensification in Brazil; Amazon (high) and Pantanal (low). We found a negative response of dung beetle assemblages to Ivermectin in both Brazilian ecosystems, where these negative effects were more pronounced in the Pantanal. Tunneler beetles are the functional group most negatively affected in both ecosystems. Finally, the Ivermectin reduces the ecological functions performed by dung beetles, with a dung removal reduction of ca. 50% and 70% in the Amazon and Pantanal, respectively. The most negative impacts in the Brazilian Pantanal reflect the long‐term consequences due to a long history of Ivermectin use than in the Amazon. However, these results also indicate a drastic future for dung beetles in Amazonian pastures. Thus, a sustainable cattle production system reducing Ivermectin use will be important for conserving dung beetles on introduced Brazilian pastures and the ecological functions that these insects provide in livestock‐dominated landscapes.

Effects of urbanization on carabid beetles in an urban riparian area

AbstractUrban rivers and riparian areas serve as corridors that move matter, organisms, and energy to urban areas from adjacent landscapes. However, anthropogenic disturbances and obstructions in river basins have severely impeded the function of many urban rivers as ecological corridors. Here, we used carabid beetles to assess the impact of urbanization on a river and its riparian areas. We identified carabid diversity and composition along an urbanization gradient. We classified 1,855 individuals in 17 species along a river. The carabid communities in riparian areas reflected critically disturbed habitats, and their composition markedly differed between the riparian areas and their adjacent habitats. Carabid beetle diversity sharply decreased with increasing urbanization. Flight capacity and feeding type varied along the urbanization gradient. Environmental variables associated with urbanization such as riparian quality and disturbance level significantly influenced carabid diversity. Land use type in increasingly urbanized areas was correlated with decreased carabid diversity and increased carabid dominance. Patch density, patch size, and interspersion metrics revealed that fragmentation and isolation influenced carabid diversity. Mitigation of disturbances and conservation of riparian microhabitats are required to improve biodiversity in riparian areas.

Faunistic analysis of longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae: Coleoptera) in Cerrado and Atlantic Forest areas: biodiversity hotspots of Brazil

ABSTRACT We analysed the diversity of Cerambycidae in three phytophysiognomies, one of Cerrado (cerradão) and two of Atlantic Forest (freshwater swamp forest and semideciduous seasonal forest) within the Municipal Botanical Garden of Bauru (central São Paulo State, Brazil), a relevant preservation area. Ceramybycidae, one of the most diverse beetle families, are important bioindicators due to their intimate relationship with their host plants. They have great ecological importance as one of the major groups of decomposers. Despite having a crucial role in forest ecosystems, detailed faunistic studies of the family are scarce. Sampling of adult Cerambycidae was conducted with malaise traps from October 2019 to September 2020. In total, we collected 69 species, mostly belonging to Cerambycinae and Lamiinae. Isomerida vittata (Pascoe, 1858) was the most abundant species. Species accumulation curves show sufficient sampling effort. We found higher abundances during the spring–summer period, indicating a seasonal distribution pattern. A comparison of species composition among the three areas showed that cerradão and semideciduous seasonal forest are more similar; a lower similarity was calculated between freshwater swamp forest and semideciduous seasonal forest. Diversity profiles show that the cerradão is the most diverse area and freshwater swamp forests have the highest evenness. Our study is one of the few survey studies of Cerambycidae in large remnant areas of the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest and provides primary data on this taxon which may help to develop future conservation policies.

Diversity and structure of dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) assemblage in natural grasslands of the Brazilian Pantanal

Diversity and structure of dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) assemblage in natural grasslands of the Brazilian Pantanal