Abstract
The effects of grazing disturbance on insect communities were examined at a montane grassland in Central Argentina, by comparing two grazed sites differing in cattle load (heavy and continuous or moderate and discontinuous) and two cattle exclusions differing in age (7 and 19 years). Two aspects of insect diversity (taxonomic and guild structure) and two levels of taxonomic resolution (family and species) were considered. Four monthly samples were taken with a suction sampler in two 1 m2 areas at each site. Collected specimens were counted, identified to family (all insects) or species (Coleoptera) level, and allocated to trophic guilds. Abundance, richness, diversity and biomass of the insect assemblages had minimum values in the most intensely grazed habitat, which also differed from the other sites in terms of insect families and Coleoptera species composition. It also showed a distinct guild structure, with fewer secondary consumers, and chewers replacing suckers as the most abundant herbivore group. According to these observations, intense grazing in montane grasslands in Central Argentina could result in taxonomic and guild changes in the associated insect communities, but such effects would not be noticeable with less intensive use. Moreover, using family taxonomic level could be as or even more appropriate than species level in order to characterize insect communities in the studied habitats under varying disturbance regimes.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Borror DJ, Triplehorn CA and Johnson NF (1989) An Introduction to the Study of Insects. Saunders College Publishing, Florida
Brown VK (1991) The importance of habitat structure in the maintenance of insect's species diversity. In: Pineda FD, Casado MA, de Miguel MJ and Montalvo J (eds) Diversidad biológica, pp 49-55. Editorial Centro de Estudios Ramón Areces S.A., Madrid
Brown VK and Hyman PS (1986) Successional communities of plants and phytophagous Coleoptera. Journal of Ecology 74: 963-975
CabidoM and Acosta A (1986) Variabilidad florística a lo largo de un gradiente de degradación en céspedes de la Pampa de Achala, Sierras de Córdoba, Argentina. Documents Phytosociologiques 10: 289-304
Cabido M, Funes G, Pucheta E, Vendramini F and Díaz S (1998) A chorological analysis of the mountains from Central Argentina. Is all what we call Sierra Chaco really Chaco? Contribution to the study of the flora and vegetation of the Chaco. XII. Candollea 53: 321-331
Cabido M, Molina S, Perez Harguindeguy N, Valladares G, Pucheta E and Gardner S (1999) Uso de la tierra, estructura del hábitat y biodiversidad en ecosistemas del centro de Argentina. In: Matteucci SD, Solbrig OT, Morello J and Halffter G (eds) Biodiversidad y uso de la tierra. Conceptos y ejemplos de Latinoamérica, pp 421-442. Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires
Capitanelli R (1979) Clima. In: Vázquez J, Miatello R and Roqué M (eds) Geografía física de la provincia de Córdoba, pp 45-138. Editorial Boldt, Buenos Aires
Chapin III FS, Torn MS and Tateno M (1996) Principles of ecosystem sustainability. American Naturalist 148: 1016-1037
Collins SL and Glenn SM (1990) A hierarchical analysis of species abundance patterns in grassland vegetation. American Naturalist 135: 633-648
Dennis P, Young MR and Gordon IJ (1998) Distribution and abundance of small insects and arachnids in relation to structural heterogeneity of grazed, indigenous grasslands. Ecological Entomology 23: 253-264
Denslow JS (1985) Disturbance-mediated coexistence of species. In: Pickett STA and White PS (eds) The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and Patch Dynamics, pp 307-323 Academic Press, Orlando, Florida
Díaz S, Acosta A and Cabido M (1992) Morphological analysis of herbaceous communities under different grazing regimens. Journal of Vegetation Science 3: 689-696
Fahrig L and Jonsen I (1998) Effects of habitat patch characteristics on abundance and diversity of insects in an agricultural landscape. Ecosystems 1: 197-205
Fisher BL (1998) Insect behavior and ecology in conservation: preserving functional species interactions. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 91: 155-158
Fleischner TL (1994) Ecological costs of livestock grazing in Western North America. Conservation Biology 8: 629-644
Gardner SM, Cabido M, Valladares G and Díaz S (1995) The influence of habitat structure on arthropod diversity in Argentine semi-arid Chaco forest. Journal of Vegetation Science 6: 349-356
Gaston KJ (2000) Biodiversity: higher taxon richness. Progress in Physical Geography 24: 117-127
Gibson CWD, Brown VK, Losito L and McGavin G (1992) The response of invertebrate assemblies to grazing. Ecography 15: 166-176
Hill MO (1979) DECORANA: A FORTRAN Program for Detrended Correspondetion Analysis and Reciprocal Averaging. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York
Hódar JA (1996) The use of regression equations for estimation of arthropod biomass in ecological studies. Acta Ecologica 17: 421-433
Hutchinson KJ and King KL (1980) The effect of sheep stocking level on invertebrate abundance, biomass and energy utilization in a temperate sown grassland. Journal of Applied Ecology 17: 369-387
LaSalle J (1993) Parasitic Hymenoptera, biological control and biodiversity. In: LaSalle J and Gauld ID (eds) Hymenoptera and Biodiversity, pp 197-215. Redwood Books, Trowbridge
Lawton JH (1983) Plant architecture and the diversity of phytophagous insects. Annual Review Entomology 28: 23-39
Lawton JH (1986) Surface availability and insect community structure: the effects of architecture and fractal dimension of plants. In: Juniper BE and Southwood TRE (eds) Insects on Plant Surfaces, pp 317-331. Edward Arnold, London
Milchunas DG and LauenrothWK (1993) A quantitative assessment of the effects of grazing on vegetation and soils over a global range environments. Ecological Monographs 63: 327-366
Morris MG (1978) Grassland management and invertebrate animals, a selective review. Scientific Proceedings of the Royal Society, Dublin A 6: 247-257
Morris MG (1979) Responses of grassland invertebrates to management by cutting I. Species diversity of Hemiptera. Journal of Applied Ecology 16: 77-98
Morris MG (1981) Responses of grassland invertebrates to management by cutting. III Adverse effects on Auchenorhyncha. Journal of Applied Ecology 18: 107-123
Morris MG (1991) The management of reserves and protected areas. In: Spellerbeng IF, Goldsmith FB and Morris MG (eds) The Scientific Management of Temperate Communities for Conservation, pp 323-348. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford
Paine RT (1966) Food web complexity and species diversity. American Naturalist 100: 850-860
Pucheta E, Cabido M, Díaz S and Funes G (1998) Floristic composition, biomass, and aboveground net plant production in grazed and protected sites in a mountain grassland of Central Argentina. Acta Oecologica 19: 97-105
Samways MJ, Caldwell PM and Osborn R (1996) Ground-living invertebrate assemblages in native, planted and invasive vegetation in South Africa. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 59: 19-32
Scholwalter TD (1985) Adaptation of insects to disturbances. In: Pickett STA and White PS (eds) The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and Patch Dynamics, pp 235-252. Academic Press, Orlando, Florida
Siemann E, Tilman D, Haarstad J and Ritchie M (1998) Experimental tests of the dependence of arthropod diversity on plant diversity. American Naturalist 152: 738-750
Sipowicz DI, Luti R and Morlans C (1978) Productividad primaria de la estepa de altura de las Sierras Grandes, Córdoba. Ecología Argentina 3: 117-123
Stewart AJA and Wright AF (1995) A new inexpensive suction apparatus for sampling arthropods in grassland. Ecological Entomology 20: 98-102
Thomas MB, Wratten SD and Sotherton NW(1992) Creation of ‘island’ habitats in farmland to manipulate populations of beneficial arthropods: predators densities and species compositions. Journal of Applied Ecology 29: 524-531
Tscharntke T and Greiler HJ (1995) Insect communities, grasses and grasslands. Annual Review of Entomology 40: 535-558
Vitenbroek DG (1997) Binomial SISA http://home.clara.net/sisa/binomial.htm. Accessed 1 March 2001
Welch JL, Redak R and Kondratieff BC (1991) Effect of cattle grazing on the density and species of grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) of the Central Plains Experimental Range, Colorado: a reassessment after two decades. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 64: 337-343
Wettstein W and Schmid B (1999) Conservation of arthropod diversity in montane wetlands: effect of altitude, habitat quality and habitat fragmentation on butterflies and grasshoppers. Journal of Applied Ecology 36: 363-373
Williams P and Gaston K (1994) Measuring more of biodiversity: can higher-taxon richness predict wholesale species richness? Biological Conservation 67: 211-217
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cagnolo, L., Molina, S. & Valladares, G. Diversity and guild structure of insect assemblages under grazing and exclusion regimes in a montane grassland from Central Argentina. Biodiversity and Conservation 11, 407–420 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014861906082
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014861906082