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Diurnal anthophilous fauna in Brazilian Chaco vegetation: phenology and interaction with flora

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Abstract

Phenology is the basis for understanding the life cycle of plants or animals throughout the year. Thus, we surveyed diurnal anthophilous fauna on plant species in the Brazilian Chaco to determine (1) groups of floral visitors and occurrence; (2) richness and abundance of fauna in relation to flowering flora and meteorological variables; (3) groups of visitors that pollinate or thieving flora; (4) distribution of herbaceous and woody strata throughout the year of flowering; (5) variation in flowering as a whole community, in the context of abiotic factors; and (6) the predominant plant families and species. We sampled eight groups of floral visitors, totalling 105 sampled species and 644 specimens. The flies and bees were the richest groups, with bees forming the most abundant group. The phenology of the fauna and flora was not clustered and exhibited a continuous and bimodal flowering. The abundance and richness of floral visitors were positively related to the quantity of plant species and flowering, as well as rainfall. Herbaceous and woody strata are important for the maintenance of anthophilous fauna throughout the year. Plant species with the highest abundance and the longest flowering period presented the highest richness and/or abundance of floral visitors. The percentage of pollination was higher than that of resource theft. Bees and flies were the main groups of pollinators, whereas flies were the main thieves. The present survey is only a starting point for future studies on the networks of interactions between plants and their floral visitors in the Brazilian Chaco.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thanks to the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (process: 115037/2012-1; 303084/2011-1), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (2011/16621-9) for financial support; Sérgio de Oliveira for access to his ranch Retiro Conceição; and specialists who identified the anthophilous fauna: Ayr de Moura Bello (beetles), Dr. André Victor Lucci Freitas (butterflies), Dr. Manoel Fernando Demétrio (ants), Dr. Maria Antonietta Castro Pivatto (hummingbirds), Ana Gabrielle Lubas Arruda, and Dr. Carlos José Einicker Lamas (flies). The authors also thanks to Fábia Silva de Carvalho and Bárbara Ellen de Medeiros Pinto for the identification of plant species.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, CCBS, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Caixa Postal 549, Campo Grande, MS, 79070-900, Brazil

    Camila Silveira de Souza

  2. Programa de Pós Graduação em Recursos Naturais, FAENG, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Caixa Postal 549, Campo Grande, MS, 79070-900, Brazil

    Camila Aoki

  3. Programa de Pós Graduação em Zoologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Daniel Maximo Correa Alcantara

  4. Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

    Sebastião Laroca

  5. Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Marlies Sazima

  6. Laboratório de Botânica, CCBS, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Cidade Universitária, Caixa Postal 549, Campo Grande, MS, 79070-900, Brazil

    Arnildo Pott

  7. Laboratório de Botânica, Laboratório de Polinização, Reprodução e Fenologia de Plantas, CCBS, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Cidade Universitária, Caixa Postal 549, Campo Grande, MS, 79070-900, Brazil

    Maria Rosângela Sigrist

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  1. Camila Silveira de Souza
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de Souza, C.S., Aoki, C., Alcantara, D.M.C. et al. Diurnal anthophilous fauna in Brazilian Chaco vegetation: phenology and interaction with flora. Braz. J. Bot 40, 203–213 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-016-0338-z

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