Bugs life: discovering the Amazon biodiversity

• Grant number: 24/00677-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Journalism
• Start date: June 01, 2024
• End date: May 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Dalton de Souza Amorim
• Grantee: Letícia Chini de Castro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/14092-0 - Insect biodiversity in an Amazon tropical forest: species richness, vertical structure and faunistic turnover, AP.BTA.TEM

Abstract

Brazil has the greatest biodiversity on the planet. Tropical forest biomes are the most biodiverse on the planet and little is known about the number of insect species in an Amazon rainforest, in particular the composition of the canopy fauna. The perception that insects exist and how they live in urbanized regions is often associated with something negative such as the transmission of diseases, plagues, etc. This is a fragmented and mistaken view that facilitates anthropogenic processes of destruction of natural environments. Insects are a megadiverse group, with the largest number of species in terrestrial environments. There are enormous possibilities in carrying out a communication project for audiences outside the academic environment of the science produced by this Thematic Project. Within the context of the Communicate Science notice, this project aims to: (1) bring society closer to the ways of constructing scientific knowledge, understanding the process of science production-the sample design and work mechanisms in the field, the routines of laboratory and ways of converting scientific data and results within and outside the academic community; (2) expand the population's perception of the diversity of insects, publicizing the different roles they have in natural environments (pollinators, predators, parasitoids of other insects, kleptoparasites, miners, corpse decomposers, plant decomposers, herbivores, mycophiles, aquatic, etc., etc.), in addition to their perception as pests or disease vectors; (3) Show the diversity of insects to generate an understanding of the enormous extent of diversity and the complexity of the environments they inhabit; (4) develop a sense of aesthetic appreciation of the immense diversity of shapes, colors and biology of countless groups of insects; (5) publicize new technologies and patents involved in biodiversity studies; (6) stimulate the population's curiosity about insects in natural and urban environments, encouraging the construction of questions that promote scientific thinking; (7) promote a closer relationship between the younger population and entomology, bringing reflections on insect conservation and climate change, and seeking engagement with new technologies (especially photographic documentation, artificial intelligence and species mapping) within the context of science citizen; and (8) consolidate the concept of the importance of tropical forests (Amazon and Atlantic Forest) based on an understanding of the diversity and biology of insects.