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Interactive effects of habitat fragmentation and microclimate on trap-nesting Hymenoptera and their trophic interactions in small secondary rainforest remnants

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Abstract

The combined effects of habitat fragmentation and climate change on biodiversity and biotic interactions are poorly understood. In the context of ongoing deforestation and agricultural intensification in the tropics secondary rainforest fragments might contribute to biodiversity conservation and mitigation of climate warming. This study investigated the interactive effects of habitat fragmentation and microclimate on the abundance and biotic interactions of trap-nesting bees and wasps in secondary forest fragments in the northwestern lowlands of Costa Rica. Fragment size did not affect hymenopteran abundance, parasitism and mortality rates, but all variables differed between edge and interior locations in the forest fragments. Interactive effects between size and location indicate higher mortality rates at interior locations in larger fragments. Microclimatic differences at edge and interior locations led to significant effects on all tested response variables. Abundance at interior locations was significantly higher with increasing temperatures. Mortality rates at interior location increased at lower mean temperatures, whereas higher temperatures at edges marginally increased mortality rates. Our results indicate that edge effects, mediated by altered microclimatic conditions, significantly change biotic interactions of trap-nesting hymenopterans in small secondary fragments.

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate the great help of the Costa Rican field assistants, especially Edwin Paniagua Sanchez and Amandine Bourg. We also want to thank the German assistants. Moreover we thank Bernhard Hoiss and Marcell Peters for their support of statistical data analysis, three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the manuscript and Sebastian Hopfenmüller and Wito Lapinski for all their precious comments on the study. We thank the “Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst” for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Wuerzburg, Biocenter, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany

    Eva S. Stangler & Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter

  2. Escuela de Biología, Universidad de Costa Rica, A.P. 2060, San Pedro de Montes Oca, San José, Costa Rica

    Paul E. Hanson

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  1. Eva S. Stangler
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  2. Paul E. Hanson
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Correspondence to Eva S. Stangler.

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Communicated by Dirk Sven Schmeller.

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Stangler, E.S., Hanson, P.E. & Steffan-Dewenter, I. Interactive effects of habitat fragmentation and microclimate on trap-nesting Hymenoptera and their trophic interactions in small secondary rainforest remnants. Biodivers Conserv 24, 563–577 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-014-0836-x

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