Invertebrates and the complexity of tropical ecosystems

Abstract

It has been estimated that there are seven million terrestrial arthropod species on Earth consisting of 6.1 million species of insects, 1.5 million of which are beetles. Tropical forests hold a majority of these species, yet few such places have been adequately sampled for alpha diversity, and there remains even more uncertainty about beta diversity. From an ecological point of view, it is the functional role of organisms within ecosystems that is the particular focus. It has been customary to classify invertebrates within ecosystems in terms of their trophic roles, but it is also useful to consider their roles in networks. In broad terms, we can classify these networks on the grounds of their basal resources. Those based directly on the photosynthetic products of plants are so‐called “green” food webs, and those based on dead and dying plant material are “brown” food webs. Here, we principally discuss the diversity and functional roles of the invertebrates in tropical terrestrial ecosystems. New sampling and analytical techniques, an expanded set of focal taxa, and an enhanced concern with interactions and processes hold the promise of a productive future for invertebrate studies in the tropics. These will not only add to general understanding of the dynamics of tropical ecosystems but will also provide powerful tools for monitoring and responding to environmental change.

Edaphic Invertebrates as Indicators of Soil Integrity Quality

“…Collembola was the order with the highest number of individuals in all samplings performed at both sites. In more developed soils, this group plays an important role in the degradation of plant litter and of other organic matter found in the soil, constantly releasing nutrients into the environment (Rzeszowski et al, 2017;Kitching et al, 2020;Rusek, 1998). According to Brown (1997), Collembola has reduced diversity in environments with strong sunlight and high disturbance; on the other hand, in environments with moderate disturbance, there are shifts in species composition in the impacted area.…”

Arthropods of Australia’s subtropical and tropical rainforests: rich and unique hotspots of biological diversity?

“…1). The Australian results have been comprehensively analysed and presented in a series of papers (Ashton et al 2011(Ashton et al , 2015(Ashton et al , 2016a(Ashton et al , b, 2020Odell et al 2016;Kitching et al 2013Kitching et al , 2020a. Comparable transects were also established in south-western China (Ashton et al 2016a, b) and the French Pyrénées (Dale et al 2019).…”

Temperature and productivity distinctly affect the species richness of ectothermic and endothermic multitrophic guilds along a tropical elevational gradient

“…We classified arthropods into three trophic guilds according to their ecological role in the ecosystem following previous studies (see Basset et al 2012;Kitching et al 2020). Thus, arthropods were assigned to one of the following trophic guilds: (1) arthropod herbivores, which feed predominantly on plant resources or through symbiosis with fungi that grow in plant resources; (2) arthropod omnivores, which feed on a wide range of substances, such as plant resources, feces, and dead and living organisms; and (3) arthropod predators, which feed predominantly on other living animals.…”