Respostas das assembleias de Besouros Escarabeínos às mudanças ambientais e presença de silvicultura na Amazônia Oriental

Abstract

Environmental variables are important for structuring dung-beetle assemblages in mature native forests the Neotropics at the local scale. However, their relative importance in the context of land-use changes with crops of exotic forest species (i.e., eucalyptus) close to native forests is still not clear. In this study we argue: [i] how are dung-beetles assemblages influenced by environmental variables (i.e., soil texture, litter biomass, canopy opening), and distance to eucalyptus plantations? and [ii] which are the most important variables for structuring dungbeetles species composition? In order to assess such issues, we used GLMs, multivariate multiple regression and hierarchical partitioning analysis. The rarefied species richness of beetle has decreased with the increase of canopy opening and the percentage of sand in the soil. However, the distance to eucalyptus plantation alone and not soil texture or canopy opening, has significantly affected beetle abundance. Understanding the results of this study is important in a context of expansion of exotic tree plantations, which has been spreading through several Amazonian regions in the last decades, thus influencing the native fauna within native preserved forests nearby.