TY - JOUR

T1 - A quantitative baseline of ants and orchid bees in human-modified Amazonian landscapes in Paragominas, Pará, Brazil

AU - Ribeiro de Castro Solar, Ricardo

AU - Chaul, Julio Cezar Mario

AU - Maues, Marcia Motta

AU - Schoereder, José H.

PY - 2016/10/25

Y1 - 2016/10/25

N2 - The lack of effective biodiversity baselines is a major impairment to implement conservation plans. Hence, constructing and updating species lists provides vital information about species distribution records. The Sustainable Amazon Network (in Portuguese Rede Amazônia Sustentável; RAS) is an interdisciplinary research initiative that aims to evaluate land-cover changes effects in eastern Brazilian Amazonia. Within the scope of this project, we sampled ants and orchid bees and herein present a list of species collected in Paragominas, PA, Brazil; the most complete lists of species published to date of these groups for the eastern Amazon. We sampled these insects across several land-cover types, from undisturbed forested habitats, through varyingly disturbed forested habitats and secondary forests to production areas (silviculture, pastures and arable fields). In total we recorded 285 species of ants and 36 species of orchid bees. Species richness was higher in primary forests for both groups, followed by production areas. Orchid bees reached their highest richness in secondary forests. For orchid bees, production areas were dominated by a few hyper-dominant species, such as Eulaema nigrita. For future assessments if the aim is to make a complete inventory, we recommend the use of additional sampling methods. Finally, we expect this study can be used as a baseline for understanding the effectiveness of ongoing changes in forest conservation and land management practices and in determining conservation status for several taxa described here.

AB - The lack of effective biodiversity baselines is a major impairment to implement conservation plans. Hence, constructing and updating species lists provides vital information about species distribution records. The Sustainable Amazon Network (in Portuguese Rede Amazônia Sustentável; RAS) is an interdisciplinary research initiative that aims to evaluate land-cover changes effects in eastern Brazilian Amazonia. Within the scope of this project, we sampled ants and orchid bees and herein present a list of species collected in Paragominas, PA, Brazil; the most complete lists of species published to date of these groups for the eastern Amazon. We sampled these insects across several land-cover types, from undisturbed forested habitats, through varyingly disturbed forested habitats and secondary forests to production areas (silviculture, pastures and arable fields). In total we recorded 285 species of ants and 36 species of orchid bees. Species richness was higher in primary forests for both groups, followed by production areas. Orchid bees reached their highest richness in secondary forests. For orchid bees, production areas were dominated by a few hyper-dominant species, such as Eulaema nigrita. For future assessments if the aim is to make a complete inventory, we recommend the use of additional sampling methods. Finally, we expect this study can be used as a baseline for understanding the effectiveness of ongoing changes in forest conservation and land management practices and in determining conservation status for several taxa described here.

KW - Amazon Rainforest

KW - Biodiversity baselines

KW - Conservation

KW - Land-use change

KW - Monitoring

M3 - Journal article

VL - 63

SP - 925

EP - 940

JO - Sociobiology

JF - Sociobiology

IS - 3

ER -