Dataset Information

Conservation status of the forest beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera) from Azores, Portugal.

ABSTRACT: Background:Island biodiversity is under considerable pressure due to the ongoing threats of invasive alien species, land use change or climate change. The few remnants of Azorean native forests harbour a unique set of endemic beetles, some of them possibly already extinct or under severe long term threat due to the small areas of the remaining habitats or climatic changes. In this contribution we present the IUCN Red List profiles of 54 forest adapted beetle species endemic to the Azorean archipelago, including species belonging to four speciose families: Zopheridae (12 species), Carabidae (11 species), Curculionidae (11 species) and Staphylinidae (10 species). New information:Most species have a restricted distribution (i.e. 66% occur in only one island) and a very small extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO). Also common to most of the species is the severe fragmentation of their populations, and a continuing decline in EOO, AOO, habitat quality, number of locations and subpopulations caused by the ongoing threat from pasture intensification, forestry, invasive species and future climatic changes. Therefore, we suggest as future measures of conservation: (1) a long-term monitoring plan for the species; (2) control of invasive species; (3) species-specific conservation action for the most highly threatened species.

SUBMITTER: Borges PAV

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5665008 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Conservation status of the forest beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera) from Azores, Portugal.

Borges Paulo Alexandre Vieira PAV Lamelas-López Lucas L Amorim Isabel R IR Danielczak Anja A Nunes Rui R Serrano Artur R M ARM Boieiro Mário M Rego Carla C Hochkirch Axel A Vieira Virgílio V

Biodiversity data journal 20171019 5

<h4>Background</h4>Island biodiversity is under considerable pressure due to the ongoing threats of invasive alien species, land use change or climate change. The few remnants of Azorean native forests harbour a unique set of endemic beetles, some of them possibly already extinct or under severe long term threat due to the small areas of the remaining habitats or climatic changes. In this contribution we present the IUCN Red List profiles of 54 forest adapted beetle species endemic to the Azorea ...[more]

PMID: 29104432

Similar Datasets

Project description:Bean leaf beetles (Ootheca spp.) (Insecta: Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) are one of Africa's most destructive pests of common bean and other leguminous crops. The beetles are widely distributed in Africa where they are estimated to cause annual crop yield losses of 116,400 tons of crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite their importance, little is known about the distribution, relative abundance and damage caused by bean leaf beetles in Uganda. As a result, the development of effective management methods has been hampered. We conducted surveys in six key Ugandan agro-ecological zones to determine the species distribution and relative abundance of bean leaf beetles. Findings indicate that leaf beetles belonging to 12 genera are present, including members of the genera Afrophthalma Medvedev, 1980, Buphonella Jacoby, 1903, Chrysochrus Chevrolat in Dejean, 1836, Diacantha Dejean, 1845, Exosoma Jacoby, 1903, Lamprocopa Hincks, 1949, Lema Fabricius, 1798, Nisotra Baly, 1864, Neobarombiella Bolz and Wagner, 2012, Ootheca Dejean, 1935, Parasbecesta Laboissière, 1940, and Plagiodera Dejean, 1835. We identified only three species belonging to the genus Ootheca: O. mutabilis, O. proteus, and O. orientalis. Seventy percent of all the beetles collected were O. mutabilis and these were present in all agro-ecological zones studied. The Northern Moist Farmlands (21.9%), West Nile Farmlands (12.9%), Central Wooded Savanna (4.4%) and Southern and Eastern Lake Kyoga Basin (1.4%) were the only agro-ecological zones where O. proteus was found. Only one specimen of O. orientalis was found at a single site in the Central Wooded Savanna. The Northern Moist Farmlands had a significantly (p < 0.05) higher bean leaf beetle density than the West Nile Farmlands and Southwestern Highlands. Similarly, the Northern Moist Farmlands had the highest beetle foliar damage per plant (1.15 ± 0.05), while the Southwestern Highlands had the lowest (0.03 ± 0.02). We provide the first information on Ootheca species distribution, abundance and damage in Uganda. Our findings provide a foundation for assessing the importance of Ootheca spp. as common bean pests in Uganda.

Project description:Insect macroecology and conservation biogeography studies are disproportionately scarce, especially in the Neotropics. Dung beetles are an ideal focal taxon for biodiversity research and conservation. Using distribution and body size data on the ecologically important Phanaeini, the best-known Neotropical dung beetle tribe, we determined elevational patterns of species richness, endemism, body size, and elevational range in Bolivia, specifically testing Bergmann's and Rapoport's rule. Richness of all 39 species and of 15 ecoregional endemics showed a hump-shaped pattern peaking at 400 m, but overall declined strongly with elevation up to 4000 m. The relationship between endemic and total species richness appeared to be curvilinear, providing only partial support for the null hypothesis that species-rich areas are more likely to be centers of endemism by chance alone. An elevational increase in the proportion of ecoregional endemics suggests that deterministic factors also appear to influence endemism in the Andes. When controlling for the effect of area using different species-area relationships, the statistically significant richness peak became more pronounced and shifted upslope to 750 m. Larger species did not have higher elevational mid-points, and mean body size decreased significantly with elevation, contradicting Bergmann's rule. Rapoport's rule was supported: species with higher elevational mid-points had broader elevational ranges, and mean elevational range increased significantly with elevation. The elevational decrease of phanaeine richness is in accordance with studies that demonstrated the combined influence of temperature and water availability on species diversity, but also is consistent with niche conservatism. For invertebrates, confirmation of Rapoport's and refutation of Bergmann's rule appear to be scale-invariant general patterns. Analyses of biogeographic patterns across elevational gradients can provide important insights for identifying conservation priorities. Phanaeines with narrow elevational ranges on isolated low-elevation mountains in eastern Bolivia are at greatest climate-change related extinction risk from range-shift gaps and mountaintop extinctions.

Project description:Longhorn beetles are highly diversified and important for agriculture and health of the environment. However, the fauna and ecology of these beetles are not well known in Thailand. This study is the first to report the biodiversity, elevation, and seasonal distribution of longhorn beetles. Specimens were collected by malaise traps from 41 localities in 24 national parks throughout the country during 2006-2009. The traps were operated at each site for 12 consecutive months with a monthly service. A total of 199 morphotaxa in 36 tribes of 6 subfamilies were identified from 1376 specimens. Of these, 40.7% and 14.5% of total taxa were singletons and doubletons, respectively. The Shannon diversity index and observed species richness at Panernthung, Loei Forest Unit and Mae Fang Hotspring were high at 0.96 (30), 0.88 (50), and 0.86 (34), respectively. Local richness ranged between 3 and 50 species, while the species richness estimator showed between 6 and 1275 species. The most relatively abundant species, Nupserha lenita, Pterolophia sp.1, Oberea sp.3, Acalolepta pseudospeciosa, and Ac. rustricatrix represented 4.80%, 4.80%, 4.80%, 4.5%, and 4.43% of the species, respectively. The species with the widest distribution range of percentage of species occurrence (% SO) was Pt. sp.1 (63.4%), followed by Ac. rustricatrix (39%) and Moechotypa suffusa (39%). In a significantly negative relationship between species richness and elevation (p > 0.05, R2 = 0.04), the species richness pattern showed a hump-shaped curve that peaked at the middle elevation (501-1000 m asl). Regarding seasonal variation, most of the species occurred during the hot season (March-April) and peaked in early rainy season (May), while a low number of species were found during the mid-rainy (June-October) and cold season (November-February). Ordination analysis indicated that the distribution of most species was associated with regions and forest type, and most of the species correlated with forest located at middle and low elevation. The results of this study indicated the very high biodiversity of longhorn beetles in Thailand, which suggests that an understanding of their seasonal and elevational distribution will be of value to agriculture management and conservation. They also indicated that malaise traps are appropriate for the evaluation of biodiversity.

Dataset Information

Conservation status of the forest beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera) from Azores, Portugal.

Publications

Conservation status of the forest beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera) from Azores, Portugal.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure