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Natural enemies depend on remnant habitat size in agricultural landscapes

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Abstract

In recent decades, the consequences of habitat fragmentation have been of growing concern, because it is particularly important to understand how fragmentation may affect biodiversity, an ecological service. We tested two hypotheses: (1) that natural fragment size in agricultural landscapes indirectly affects the herbivore through effects on natural predator populations; and (2) predator activity into the crop reduces along the distance from the natural fragment edge. From 2008 and 2009, we conducted our study in seven forest remnants and in surrounding coffee plantations (fragments ranged from 6 to 105 ha, mean 49.28 ± 36.60 ha) in Southern Minas Gerais, Brazil. Birds were sampled by point counts, and insect predation was evaluated by using an artificial insect model (Koh and Menge 2006). Our results suggest that although there were many potential predators (e.g., wasps, ants, birds, and mammals), birds were the most important taxon unit. The covariance analysis supported the hypothesis that patch size affected the number of larvae predation by overall taxi, but there was no support for a distance effect. These findings suggest that natural enemies’ ecological service (mainly from birds) declined with remnant reduction, which has implications not only for human welfare, but also in strengthening the economic justifications for conserving the remaining natural habitats and biodiversity in agricultural landscapes.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to express our gratitude to M. Raniero, M. F. V. Silva, E. Pessoni, and other members of the Laboratório de Ecologia de Fragmentos Florestais (ECOFRAG), who have been valuable friends, assisted in fieldwork, and made essential comments at different phases of this study. This manuscript also greatly benefited from the comments of Alberto José Arab Olavarrieta. We also thank several private landowners who permitted access to their properties. Universidade Federal de Alfenas provided logistical support. We received financial support from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais FAPEMIG-VALE S/A (Process #RDP-00104-10) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (Process # 472250/2010). We appreciated the improvements in English language made by Jim Hesson of http://www.AcademicEnglishSolutions.com

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Ecologia Animal, Departamento de Zoologia e Botânica, Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP, Rua Cristóvão Colombo, 2265, Jardim Nazareth, São José Do Rio Preto, SP, CEP 15054-000, Brazil

    Mainara Xavier Jordani

  2. Laboratório de Ecologia de Fragmentos do Sul de Minas Gerais – ECOFRAG, Instituto Ciências da Natureza, Universidade Federal de Alfenas - UNIFAL – MG, Rua Gabriel Monteiro da Silva, 700, Centro, Alfenas, MG, CEP 37130-000, Brazil

    Érica Hasui & Vinícius Xavier da Silva

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  1. Mainara Xavier Jordani
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Correspondence to Érica Hasui.

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Project funding: This work is financially supported from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais FAPEMIG-VALE S/A (Process #RDP-00104-10) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (Process # 472250/2010).

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Corresponding editor: Chai Ruihai

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Jordani, M.X., Hasui, É. & da Silva, V.X. Natural enemies depend on remnant habitat size in agricultural landscapes. J. For. Res. 26, 469–477 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-015-0043-y

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