Abstract
Much of the remarkable beta diversity of the Amazon biome is associated with the variety of vegetation types and other broad environmental gradients. We investigated ant assemblages in white-sand vegetation, one of the most distinctive vegetation types in the Amazon. Using pitfall traps in trees and on the ground, we comprehensively surveyed the ant assemblages along a natural gradient of vegetation structure, quantified with ground-LiDAR measurements. We collected individuals of 212 ant species/morphospecies distributed across 53 genera and nine subfamilies. Alpha diversity was not correlated with vegetation complexity, but beta diversity varied widely along the vegetation gradient. Species replacement was the predominant beta-diversity component, with smaller contributions from richness differences and nestedness. Terrestrial species composition was affected by vegetation structure, but arboreal species were more uniformly distributed along the vegetation-complexity gradient. Many habitat-generalist species (sampled in terrestrial and arboreal stratum) were sampled in less-complex parts of the gradient, suggesting that vertical stratification is diluted in more open vegetation. Our data indicate that the high species replacement in a small area increases the conservation value of this vegetation type by allowing much greater overall diversity than would be predicted by local alpha diversity.
Implications for insect conservation
Our study demonstrates a remarkable ant-species replacement along a gradient of white-sand vegetation and highlights the importance of conserving this fragile environment, which is threatened by fire, deforestation, and mining.
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Data Availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available in supplemental material.
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Acknowledgements
We dedicate this study to all the people who live in the Rio Negro Sustainable Development Reserve, with a special mention to the family of Sr Jânio, Sra Alindomar, their children Esaú and Janinho, and their grandchildren. ABSO would also like to express gratitude to the family of Sra Lúcia (in memoriam) and Sr Armando Toga. These families have been actively protecting and conserving biodiversity and supporting research in the PPBio sampling module promoting sustainable use of natural resources in the RDS Rio Negro. ABSO expresses its gratitude to all field assistants. Without the collaboration of these professionals, conducting scientific research in the Amazon would be impossible. This study was funded by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas (FAPEAM), the Graduate Program in Zoology (PPGZool) at the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM), the Biodiversity Research Program (PPBio), CENBAM (Centro de Estudos Integrados da Biodiversidade Amazônica) and the logistics of the Graduate Program in Ecology at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA). We thank Dr. Rodrigo Feitosa and Itanna Fernandes for their help with ant identification. We thank Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for financial support and grant to Amanda Oliveira. Alisson Munaretti kindly provided satellite imagery of the study area. The collections are part of the authorized research/doctoral project by ABSO under the ant collection permit for scientific research - SISBIO/72174-1. SHB is supported by a grant provided by Programa de Produtividade/FAPEAM (Edital 013/2022). FBB is continuously supported by CNPq grant (PQ #313986/2020-7). WEM is supported by a productivity grant from CNPq (PQ # 301873/2016-0). Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas provided funding for the plot infrastructure and vegetation data collection (Edital No. 002/2018, Processo No. 062.00187/2019, Universal Amazonas call), with funding to APL.
Funding
This study was funded by Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Amazonas (FAPEAM No. 062.00187/2019, Universal Amazonas call to APL). Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) provided a doctoral scholarship to A.B.S.O and S.H.B is supported by a grant provided by Programa de Produtividade/FAPEAM (Edital 013/2022). FBB and WEM are continuously supported by CNPq grants (PQ #313986/2020-7 and PQ #301873/2016-0, respectively).
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A.B.S.O: Conceptualization, methodology, validation, formal analysis, data curation, writing – original draft, writing – review & editing. S.H.B: Conceptualization, writing – review & editing. A.T.P: ant sorting and material preparation, R.C.S.P and R.D.M: LiDAR field sampling and modeling, writing – review & editing. A.P.L: funding, writing – review & editing. W.E.M: funding, writing – review & editing. F.B.B: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, writing – review & editing, visualisation.
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de Oliveira, A.B.d., Borges, S.H., Paes, A.T. et al. Beta diversity and microhabitat use of ant assemblages in a white-sand vegetation gradient in central Amazonia. J Insect Conserv 27, 855–864 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-023-00517-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-023-00517-4