Climate change can affect the spatial association between stingless bees and Mimosa scabrella in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Abstract

The species-specific responses to climate change can result in discordant range shifts, leading to changes in associations among species. In this study, we tested whether climate change can affect the spatial association between the plant Mimosa scabrella and the stingless bees Melipona quadrifasciata anthidioides and M. quadrifasciata quadrifasciata . Ecological niche models were used to predict current and future species distributions using intermediate (RCP 4.5) and high (RCP 8.5) greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Our models projected a pronounced reduction in climatically suitable habitats available for the studied species and identified a species-specific response to climate change. As a result, the models estimated a drastic reduction in the spatial association among species of up to 94% in the coming years, revealing that climate change may affect species interactions.biotic interaction / ecological niche modelling / Melipona / pollination / spatial association

Integrating climate change into agroforestry conservation: A case study on native plant species in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

“…Although these three species are predicted to experience declines in suitability, predicted new suitable habitats explain these slightly shifts in climate affinities. It is well documented that climate change triggers discordant range shifts, phenological asynchronies and spatial mismatches among biotic interactions (Barreto et al, 2019; Marchioro et al, 2020), and as a consequence undermines ecosystem functioning as well as human welfare (Dakhil et al, 2019; Pecl et al, 2017). Understanding how climate change will impact these commonly used species is essential to plan new species combinations by local communities, since the success of human societies rely on components of natural resources and their management systems (Liu et al, 2018; Pecl et al, 2017).…”

“…Drastic changes in species distribution have been detected over recent years due to climate change (Castro et al, 2020; Gomes et al, 2019; Lazo‐Cancino et al, 2020). However, not many studies on species spatial association impacts have gained attention in decision‐making (Marchioro et al, 2020). Here, we show that climate change will either increase or decrease the spatial associations of native agroforestry species in the coming decades, which can directly affect people's livelihoods in rural smallholder communities (Franco de Souza et al, 2016; McGinty et al, 2008).…”

First Report of Tetragonula calophyllae Shanas & Faseeh 2019 (Apidae: Apinae: Meliponini) from Goa State, India

“…Land use changes and climate change pose a serious threat to the conservation of the stingless bees [10]. Some species can gain suitable habitats or experience relatively small habitat reductions [11,12] while others like Melipona quadrifascita Lepeletier, an endemic species to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest Marchioro et al, [13] and other species from the eastern Amazon of Brazil Giannini et al, [12] will have higher loss of occurrence area.…”