Landscape structure shapes the diversity of beneficial insects in coffee producing landscapes

Author(s)

Medeiros, Hugo Reis ^{[1, 2, 3]} ; Martello, Felipe ^[4] ; Almeida, Eduardo A. B. ^{[5, 6]} ; Mengual, Ximo ^[7] ; Harper, Karen A. ^{[8, 9, 10]} ; Grandinete, Yuri Campanholo ^[11] ; Metzger, Jean Paul ^[12] ; Righi, Ciro Abbud ^{[1, 13]} ; Ribeiro, Milton Cezar ^{[2, 3]}

Affiliation:Show less -

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, CENA Ctr Nucl Energy Agr, Grad Program Appl Ecol Interunidades, BR-13400000 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

^[2] UNESP Univ Estadual Paulista, Dept Ecol, Spatial Ecol, BR-13506900 Rio Claro, SP - Brazil

^[3] UNESP Univ Estadual Paulista, Conservat Lab LEEC, BR-13506900 Rio Claro, SP - Brazil

^[4] UFSCAR Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Dept Environm Sci, BR-13565905 Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil

^[5] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Biol, Comparat Biol, BR-14040901 Ribeirao Preto, SP - Brazil

^[6] Univ Sao Paulo, Bees Lab, BR-14040901 Ribeirao Preto, SP - Brazil

^[7] Zool Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, 160, D-53113 Bonn - Germany

^[8] Dalhousie Univ, Sch Resource & Environm Studies, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2 - Canada

^[9] Dalhousie Univ, Coll Sustainabil, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2 - Canada

^[10] St Marys Univ, Biol Dept, Halifax, NS B3H 3C3 - Canada

^[11] Univ Estadual Paulista, Dept Zool & Bot, BR-15054000 Sao Jose Do Rio Preto - Brazil

^[12] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Ecol, BR-05508090 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[13] Univ Sao Paulo, Coll Agr Luiz Queiroz, Dept Forest Sci, BR-13418900 Piracicaba, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Biological Conservation; v. 238, OCT 2019.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

The expansion of monocultures and the overuse of agrochemicals have resulted in the loss of beneficial insects and disruption of ecosystem services such as pollination and biological control in agricultural landscapes. Bees, wasps and flower flies were our model groups to investigate how landscape structure attributes affect alpha and beta diversity of different beneficial insect groups in Brazilian landscapes containing coffee crops. Species richness and abundance of wasps, and bee richness were positively correlated with forest cover at multiple spatial extents. Bee abundance, and species richness and abundance of flower flies did not respond to any landscape predictor. The community composition of wasps and bees in landscapes with low forest cover was composed of subsets of the communities located in forested landscapes, leading to species loss in structurally impoverished landscapes. High variations in landscape diversity and edge density between landscapes resulted in flower fly species replacement suggesting that pairs of landscapes with high and low diversity of habitat types and edge density harbor different species. Such results indicate that initiatives for the conservation of beneficial insects in the Atlantic Forest biodiversity hotspot must focus on forest conservation and restoration, because high levels of forest loss can result in the loss of wasp and bee species with potential negative consequences for the provision of pollination and pest control services in agroecosystems. Our findings can aid conservationists and policy makers to define priority actions for biodiversity conservation as well as the selection of appropriate spatial scales in landscape planning and management. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/50421-2 - New sampling methods and statistical tools for biodiversity research: integrating animal movement ecology with population and community ecology
• Grantee: Milton Cezar Ribeiro
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 13/23457-6 - Interface project: relationships among landscape structure, ecological processes, biodiversity and ecosystem services
• Grantee: Jean Paul Walter Metzger
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants