Comparison of Drosophilidae (Diptera) assemblages from two highland Araucaria Forest fragments, with and without environmental conservation policies

Abstract

Flies from the Drosophilidae family are model organisms for biological studies and are often suggested as bioindicators of environmental quality. The Araucaria Forest, one of Atlantic Forest phyto-physiognomy, displays a highly fragmented distribution due to the expansion of agriculture and urbanization. Thus, this work aimed to evaluate and compare the drosophilid assemblages from two highland Araucaria Forest fragments, one a conservation unit (PMA -Parque Municipal das Araucárias) and the other a private property without any conservational policy (FBL -Fazenda Brandalise), in space and time, using species abundances and richness, ecological indexes and Neotropical and exotic species proportions as parameters to establish the level of environmental quality of these fragments. Our results showed that the observed diversity in PMA (H' = 2.221) was approximately 40% higher than in FBL (H' = 1.592). This could be due to higher preservation quality and habitat diversity in PMA, indicating the importance of conservation units. However, richness were similar for these areas, with PMA (D mg = 6.602) only 8% higher than FBL (D mg = 6.128), which suggest that the larger distance from city limits and the larger size of FBL forested area could be compensating the higher disturbance caused by antrophic extractive exploitation of this fragment. This points out that, besides the quality of presevertion, the size and/or connection with other fragments should be considered for areas destined for biodiversity conservation. In general, both areas presented similar drosophilid assemblages, and the expressive abundance of both Neotropical species (mostly of the subgroup willistoni) and the exotic species D. kikkawai suggests that these areas are in intermediate stages of conservation.Keywords: ecological indexes, Mixed Ombrophylous Forest, exotic species, Drosophila, Atlantic Forest, Neotropical region. Comparação das assembleias de Drosophilidae (Diptera) de dois fragmentos de floresta de araucária de altitude, com e sem políticas de conservação ambiental ResumoMoscas da família Drosophilidae são organismos modelo para estudos biológicos e frequentemente sugeridas como bioindicadoras da qualidade ambiental. A Mata de Araucária, uma das fitofisionomias da Mata Atlântica, apresenta-se altamente fragmentada devido a expansão da agricultura e da urbanização. Assim, este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar e comparar as assembleias de drosofilídeos de dois fragmentos de Mata de Araucária de altitude, uma área de preservação (PMA -Parque Municipal das Araucárias) e uma propriedade particular e sem política de conservação (FBL -Fazenda Brandalise), no tempo e no espaço, utilizando abundâncias e riquezas das espécies, índices ecológicos e proporções de espécies neotropicais e espécies exóticas como parâmetros para estabelecer o nível de qualidade ambiental destes fragmentos. Nossos resultados mostraram que a diversidade observada em PMA (H' = 2,221) foi 40% maior do que em FBL (H' = 1,592). Isto pode ser devido a maior qualidade ...

Identification key for drosophilid species (Diptera, Drosophilidae) exotic to the Neotropical Region and occurring in Brazil

“…The oriental species D. kikkawai supports a cosmopolitan status (Pinheiro and Valente, 1993), but it is not clear when it was introduced in South America and Africa and nor if this process was mediated by humans (Ashburner, 1989). In Brazil, this species is found in both natural (Sene et al, 1980) and urban environments (Costa et al, 2003), usually in low abundances (but see Cavasini et al, 2014).…”

“…In Brazil, drosophilid communities have been studied by several independent research groups, covering the Amazonian and Atlantic forests (Medeiros and Klaczko, 2004;Penariol and Madi-Ravazzi, 2013;Coutinho-Silva et al, 2017;Santa-Brígida et al, 2017), the Cerrado biome (Tidon, 2006;Blauth and Gottschalk, 2007), Caatinga (Rohde et al, 2010;Garcia et al, 2014;Oliveira et al, 2016), araucarias (Cavasini et al, 2014), pampas (Poppe et al, 2016) and urban sites (Ferreira and Tidon, 2005;Gottschalk et al, 2007). Exotic species are recorded in all drosophilid assemblages, and their relative abundance depends on many factors, as vegetation type, the season of the year, and disturbance (Mata et al, 2015).…”

Migration rate and genetic diversity of two Drosophila maculifrons (Duda, 1927) populations from Highland Araucaria Forest Fragments in Southern Brazil

“…Cavasini et al (2014) evaluated the Drosophilidae assemblages of Araucaria Forest fragments in Guarapuava/PR (southern of Brazil), including one studied here. They concluded that the areas are in intermediate state of conservation, and the size of the preserved area and/or connection with other fragments are important and should be considered for the establishment of conservation units.…”

Substratos de desenvolvimento larval de Drosophilidae (Diptera) na reserva florestal do Instituto de Biociências da USP

“…Drosophila griseolineata Duda, 1927 Substratos de desenvolvimento larval (Duda, 1927;Dobzhansky & Pavan, 1943;Dobzhansky & Cunha, 1955;Hunter, 1964;Hunter, 1970;Brncic & Valente, 1978;Sene et al, 1980;Rafael & Vela, 2000;Roque et al, 2013;Cavasini et al, 2014). Duda, 1927 Substratos Tidon-Sklorz et al, 1994;De Toni & Hofmann, 1995;Tidon-Sklorz & Sene, 1995;Goñi et al, 1998;Leão & Tidon, 2004;Mateus et al, 2006;Martins & Oliveira, 2007;Mata et al, 2008;Acurio & Rafael, 2009;Tidon & Almeida, 2006).…”

“…Substratos de desenvolvimento larval Literatura: Desconhecidos. Gottschalk et al, 2007;Hochmuller et al, 2010;Cavasini et al, 2014).…”