Predicting priority areas for conservation from historical climate modelling: stingless bees from Atlantic Forest hotspot as a case study

Author(s)

Carvalho, Antonio F. ; Del Lama, Marco Antonio

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF INSECT CONSERVATION; v. 19, n. 3, p. 7-pg., 2015-06-01.

Abstract

Assuming that genetically diverse populations of bees are less likely to suffer the harmful effects of inbreeding and better able to avoid an extinction vortex related to the sex determination mechanism, the identification of putative areas in which diversity is concentrated should be focus of a discussion. Models of historical climate stability constitute an elegant manner of inferring such areas. The aim of the present study was to model the potential distribution of stingless bees in different periods of climate extremes of the Late Quaternary and the current day. A spatially-explicit model was designed to predict areas in which genetic diversity is putatively concentrated in an assemblage of nineteen species in the southern Atlantic Forest, Brazil. These climatically-stable areas (i.e., refuges) were mainly recorded in three portions of coastal forests in southeastern Brazil, regions that concentrate areas of high to extreme importance to the conservation of biological diversity. Such regions have differences regarding size and suitability scores and are distributed within the southern Atlantic Forest Central Corridor (SCC), as well as the northern (NSM) and southern Serra do Mar Corridor (SSM). Considering that refuges historically harbor high degrees of genetic diversity, these three regions are indicated as those of high importance to the conservation of stingless bees in the Atlantic Forest. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/04317-9 - Has the disjunction of the South American rainforests resulted in a differential effect on the genetic diversity of the populations of two neotropical social wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Epiponini)?
• Grantee: Antônio Freire de Carvalho Filho
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• FAPESP's process: 11/21501-2 - Bee population genetics and the extinction vortex of the Hymenoptera
• Grantee: Marco Antonio Del Lama
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 11/13391-2 - Has the disjunction of the South American rainforests resulted in a differential effect on the genetic diversity of the populations of two Neotropical social wasps (Hymenoptera: vespidae: Epiponini)?
• Grantee: Antônio Freire de Carvalho Filho
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate