Abstract
Understanding the responses of natural communities to disturbances remains a challenging task in ecology. In northwestern Patagonia, the most important disturbances are fire and introduced ungulates. Although these disturbances have been present in this region since late eighteen century, their effects on arthropods diversity have been poorly studied. Here, we examined the short-term response of ground beetles (Coleoptera) to fire (burnt and unburnt) in browsed forests and to cattle browsing (cattle and no cattle) in post-fire forests. We collected ground beetles with pitfall traps and estimated beetle abundance, species richness, assemblage composition, abundance of trophic guilds and beetle characteristic species, and measured some habitat parameters. We found that burnt browsed forest had lower diversity and different assemblage composition than unburnt forest. Beetle abundance, assemblage composition and abundance of trophic guilds were similar in post-fire forests with and without cattle browsing. Conversely, beetle species richness was higher in cattle than in no cattle forests. Fire had a strong negative effect on beetle diversity probably by its effect changing habitat structure. Whereas fire had a homogenizing influence on beetle diversity with and without cattle, at small-spatial scales, browsing of cattle probably generate habitat heterogeneity enhancing beetle richness. The implementation of policies aimed to reduce the risk of fire and to maintain low-moderate cattle pressure appears to be vital to conserve the beetle assemblage in the Patagonian region.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Administración de Parques Nacionales (1999) Informe sobre las consecuencias ecológicas de los incendios forestales. Temporada 1998–1999. Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi. San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
Allred BW, Fuhlendorf SD, Engle DM, Elmore RD (2011) Ungulate preference for burned patches reveals strength of fire–grazing interaction. Ecology and Evolution 1:132–144. doi:10.1002/ece3.12
Andersen AN, Müller WJ (2000) Arthropod responses to experimental fire regimes in an Australian tropical savannah: ordinal-level analysis. Austral Ecol 25:199–209. doi:10.1046/j.1442-9993.2000.01038.x
Barrios-Garcia MN, Relva MA, Kitzberger T (2012) Patterns of use and damage by exotic deer on native plant communities in northwestern Patagonia. Eur J Wildl Res 58:137–146
Barros V, Cordón V, Moyano C, Mendez R, Forquera J, Pizzio O (1983) Cartas de precipitación de la Zona Oeste de las Provincias de Río Negro y Neuquén. Internal report. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Neuquén, Argentina
Bengtsson J (1998) Which species? What kind of diversity? Which ecosystem function? Some problems in studies of relations between biodiversity and ecosystem function. Appl Soil Ecol 10:191–199
Blackhall M, Raffaele E, Veblen TT (2008) Cattle affect early post-fire regeneration in a Nothofagus dombeyi–Austrocedrus chilensis mixed forest in northern Patagonia, Argentina. Biol Conserv 141:2251–2261
Blanche KR, Andersen AN, Ludwig JA (2001) Rainfall-contingent detection of fire impacts: responses of beetles to experimental fire regimes. Ecol Appl 11:86–96
Bond WJ, van Wilgen BW (1996) Fire and plants, 1st edn. Chapman and Hall, London
Borror DJ, Triplehorn CA, Johnson NF (1992) Study of insects, 6th edn. Saunders College Publishing, Orlando
Buddle CM, Langor DW, Pohl GR, Spence JR (2006) Arthropod responses to harvesting and wildfire: implications for emulation of natural disturbance in forest management. Biol Conserv 128:346–357
Bustamante-Sánchez MA, Grez AA, Simonetti JA (2004) Dung decomposition and associated beetles in a fragmented temperate forest. Rev Chil Hist Nat 77:107–120
Cabrera AL (1994) Regiones Fitogeográficas Argentinas. Editorial Acme S.A.C.I.C, Buenos Aires
Claps LE, Debandi G, Roig-Juñent S (2008) Biodiversidad de Artrópodos Argentinos volumen 2. Sociedad Entomológica Argentina, Buenos Aires
Clarke KR, Gorley RN (2006) PRIMER V6. User manual/tutorial PRIMER-E. Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Playmouth
Clarke KR, Warwick RM (2001) Change in marine communities: an approach to statistical analysis and interpretation Primer-E Ltd. Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK
de Paz M, Raffaele E (2013) Cattle change plant reproductive phenology, promoting community changes in a post-fire Nothofagus forest in northern Patagonia, Argentina. J Plant Ecol 6:459–467. doi:10.1093/jpe/rtt004
Dimitri MJ (1962) La flora andino-patagónica. Dirección General de Parques Nacionales, Bs. As. Argentina
Dufrêne M, Legendre P (1997) Species assemblages and indicator species: the need for a flexible asymmetrical approach. Ecol Monogr 67:345–366
Fay PA (2003) Insect diversity in two burned and grazed grasslands. Environ Entomol 32:1099–1104
Gaspar C, Gaston KJ, Borges PAV (2010) Arthropods as surrogates of diversity at different spatial scales. Biol Conserv 143:1287–1294
Gómez JM, Valladares F, Puerta-Piñero C (2004) Differences between structural and functional environmental heterogeneity caused by seed dispersal. Funct Ecol 18:787–792
González E, Rochefort L, Boudreau S, Hugron S, Poulin M (2013) Can indicator species predict restoration outcomes early in the monitoring process? a case study with peatlands. Ecol Indic 32:232–238
Gotelli NJ, Colwell RK (2001) Quantifying biodiversity: procedures and pitfalls in the measurement and comparison of species richness. Ecol Lett 4:379–391
Gotelli NJ, Entsminger GL (2001) EcoSim: null models software for ecology. Acquired Intelligence Inc. and Kesey-Bear, http://homepages.together.net/~gentsmin/ecosim.htm. Accessed 2 Feb 2014
Hawkins CP, MacMahon JA (1989) Guilds: the multiple meanings of a concept. Annu Rev Entomol 34:423–451. doi:10.1146/annurev.en.34.010189.002231
Hobbs NT (1996) Modification of ecosystems by ungulates. J Wildl Manag 60:695–713
Jaksic FM (1998) Vertebrate invaders and their ecological impacts in Chile. Biodivers Conserv 7:1427–1445. doi:10.1023/A:1008825802448
Jaksic FM, Iriarte JA, Jiménez JE, Martínez DR (2002) Invaders without frontiers: cross-border invasions of exotic mammals. Biol Invasions 4:157–173
Kitzberger T, Veblen TT (1999) Fire-induce changes in northern Patagonian landscapes. Landsc Ecol 14:1–15
Knight TM, Holt RD (2005) Fire generates spatial gradients in herbivory: an example from a Florida sandhill ecosystem. Ecology 86:587–593
Lauria-Sorge RM, Romero CA (1999) La ganadería domestica de los pobladores con permiso de ocupación y Pastaje (P.P.O.P.) en tierras fiscales del Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi. In: Huapi IPNN (ed) Administración de Parques Nacionales, S. C. de Bariloche, Argentina, pp 1–35
McGeoch MA, Chown SL (1998) Scaling up the value of bioindicators. Trends Ecol Evol 13:46–47
Mermoz M, Kitzberger T, Veblen TT (2005) Landscape influences on occurrence and spread of wildfires in Patagonia forest and shrublands. Ecology 86:2705–2715
Morrone JJ, Coscarón S (1998) Biodiversidad de Artrópodos Argentinos volumen 1. Ediciones Sur
Morrone JJ, Roig-Juñent S (1995) The diversity of Patagonian Weevils. Ediciones LOLA, Buenos Aires
Navas JR (1987) Los vertebrados exóticos introducidos en la Argentina. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia’ Zoología 14: 7–38
New TR (2010) Beetles in conservation. Blackwell Publishing, UK
Nuñez MA, Relva MA, Simberloff D (2008) Enemy release or invasional meltdown? The role of exotic herbivores in pine invasion on Isla Victoria, Argentina. Austral Ecol 33:317–323
Orgeas J, Andersen AN (2001) Fire and biodiversity: responses of grass-layer beetles to experimental fire regimes in an Australian tropical savanna. J Appl Ecol 38:49–62
Paritsis J, Aizen MA (2008) Effects of exotic conifer plantations on the biodiversity of understory plants, epigeal beetles and birds in Nothofagus dombeyi forests. For Ecol Manage 255:1575–1583
Paritsis J, Raffaele E, Veblen TT (2006) Vegetation disturbance by fire affects plant reproductive phenology in a shrubland community in northwestern Patagonia, Argentina. N Z J Ecol 30:387–395
Petchey OL, Gaston KJ (2006) Functional diversity: back to basics and looking forward. Ecol Lett 9:741–758. doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2006.00924.x
Pryke J, Samways M (2012) Importance of using many taxa and having adequate controls for monitoring impacts of fire for arthropod conservation. J Insect Conserv 16:177–185. doi:10.1007/s10841-011-9404-9
Raffaele E, Veblen TT (2001) Effects of cattle grazing on early postfire regeneration of matorral in northwest Patagonia, Argentina. Nat Areas J 21:243–249
Raffaele E, Veblen TT, Blackhall M, Tercero-Bucardo N (2011) Synergistic influences of introduced herbivores and fire on vegetation change in northern Patagonia, Argentina. J Veg Sci 22:59–71. doi:10.1111/j.1654-1103.2010.01233.x
Rainio J, Niemelä J (2003) Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) as bioindicators. Biodivers Conserv 12:487–506
Relva MA, Veblen TT (1998) Impact of introduced large herbivores on Austrocedrus chilensis forest in northern Patagonia, Argentina. For Ecol Manag 108:27–40
R Development Core Team (2014) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. The R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Viena, Austria. http://www.R-project.org. Accessed 3 Feb 2014
Relva MA, Nuñez MA, Simberloff D (2010) Introduced deer reduce native plant cover and facilitate invasion of non-native tree species: evidence for invasional meltdown. Biol Invasions 12:303–311. doi:10.1007/s10530-009-9623-0
Rodriguez-Cabal MA, Barrios-Garcia MN, Amico GC, Aizen MA, Sanders NJ (2013) Node-by-node disassembly of a mutualistic network driven by species introductions. Proc Natl Acad Sci India Sect A (Phys Sci) 110:16503–16507
Ruggiero A, Sackmann P, Farji-Brener AG, Kun M (2009) Beetle abundance-environment relationships at the Subantarctic-Patagonian transition zone. Insect Conserv Diver 2:81–92. doi:10.1111/j.1752-4598.2009.00045.x
Sackmann P, Farji-Brener AG (2006) Effect of fire on ground beetles and ants assemblages along an environmental gradient in NW Patagonia: does habitat matter? Ecoscience 13:360–371
Sasal Y, Raffaele E, Farji-Brener AG (2010) Succession of ground-dwelling beetle assemblages after fire in three habitat types in the Andean forest of NW Patagonia, Argentina. J Insect Sci 10:1–17
Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1999) Introducción a la Bioestadística. Reverté Ediciones, Barcelona
Suarez ML, Kitzberger T (2010) Differential effects of climate variability on forest dynamics along a precipitation gradient in northern Patagonia. J Ecol 98:1023–1034
Swengel AB (2001) A literature review of insect responses to fire, compared to other conservation managements of open habitat. Biodivers Conserv 10:1141–1169
Turner MG (2010) Disturbance and landscape dynamics in a changing world. Ecology 91:2833–2849
van Wieren SE, Bakker JP (2008) The impact of browsing and grazing herbivores on biodiversity. In: Gordon IJ, Prins HHT (eds) The ecology of browsing and grazing. Springer, New York, pp 263–292
Vázquez DP (2002) Multiple effects of introduced mammalian herbivores in a temperate forest. Biol Invasions 4:175–191
Vázquez DP, Simberloff D (2002) Ecological specialization and susceptibility to disturbance: conjectures and refutations. Am Nat 159:606–623
Vázquez DP, Simberloff D (2003) Changes in interaction biodiversity induced by an introduced ungulate. Ecol Lett 6:1077–1083
Vázquez DP, Simberloff D (2004) Indirect effects of introduced ungulate on pollination and plant reproduction. Ecol Monogr 74:281–308
Veblen TT (1989) Nothofagus regeneration in treefall gaps in northern Patagonia. Can J For Res 19:365–371
Veblen TT, Mermoz M, Martín C, Kitzberger T (1992) Ecological impacts of introduced animals in Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina. Conserv Biol 6:71–83
Veblen TT, Kitzberger T, Raffaele E, Lorenz DC (2003) Fire history and vegetation changes in Northern Patagonia, Argentina. In: Veblen TT, Baker WL, Montenegro G, Swetnam TW (eds) Fire and climatic change in temperate ecosystems of the western Americas. Springer, New York, pp 265–295
Veblen TT, Holz A, Paritsis J, Raffaele E, Kitzberger T, Blackhall M (2011) Adapting to global environmental change in Patagonia: what role for disturbance ecology? Austral Ecol 36:891–903. doi:10.1111/j.1442-9993.2010.02236.x
White PS, Pickett STA (1985) Natural disturbance and patch dynamics: an introduction. In: Pickett STA, White PS (eds) The ecology of natural disturbance and patch dynamics. Academic Press, Orlando, pp 3–13
Work TT, Koivula M, Klimaszewski J, Langor D, Spence J, Sweeney J, Hébert C (2008) Evaluation of carabid beetles as indicators of forest change in Canada. Can Entomol 140:393–414. doi:10.4039/n07-LS07
York A, Tarnawski J (2004) Impacts of grazing and burning on terrestrial invertebrate assemblages in dry eucalypt forests of north-eastern New South Wales: implications for biodiversity conservation. In: Lunney D (ed) Conservation of Australia’s forest fauna. Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Mosman, pp 845–859
Acknowledgments
We thank Juan Karlanian, Melisa Blackhall, Emiliano and Daniela Sasal for field assistance, and Juan Paritsis, Carolina Quintero, Mariano Rodriguez-Cabal and Martín A. Nuñez for manuscript suggestions. We also thank SergioRoig-Juñet (Carabidae), Mariana Chani (Saphilinidae), Eider Ruíz-Manzanos (Scarabeidae), Gustavo Flores (Tenebrionidae) and Alfred Newton (Leiodidae) for their assistance with beetle identifications. The “Administración de ParquesNacionales” allowed access to the study site. Y. S., E. R. and A. F.-B. are researchers for CONICET.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
About this article
Cite this article
Sasal, Y., Raffaele, E. & Farji-Brener, A.G. Consequences of fire and cattle browsing on ground beetles (Coleoptera) in NW Patagonia. Ecol Res 30, 1015–1023 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-015-1302-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-015-1302-2