SLAM Project - Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the Natural Forest of Azores: III - Testing the impact of edge effects in a native forest of Terceira Island

Borges, Paulo A. V.; Lamelas-López, Lucas; Tsafack, Noelline; Boieiro, Mário; Ros‐Prieto, Alejandra; Gabriel, Rosalina; Nunes, Rui; Ferreira, María Teresa

doi:10.3897/bdj.10.e85971

Cited by 6 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…sampling bottles contained propylene glycol as a preservative and the traps were monitored every month, from June 2014 to December 2015. The sampled specimens were transported to the lab, sorted and identified to species or morphospecies level (Borges et al, 2022).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We considered a species as endemic when its distribution is restricted to the Azores, native non-endemic those species that arrived naturally to the archipelago but are also present elsewhere, and as introduced species those that have been introduced (accidentally or deliberately) by humans in the Azores. The complete dataset is available in GBIF (Borges and Lamelas-López, 2022) and described in detail in Borges et al (2022).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The data presented in this study are available in Borges et al (2022) https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.10.e85971. Supplementary data are available with the text.…”

Section: Data Availability Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Edge effects constraint endemic but not introduced arthropod species in a pristine forest on Terceira (Azores, Portugal)

Tsafack

Pozsgai

Boieiro

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Pristine Azorean forests have been deeply fragmented since human colonization. Fragmentation increases the length of edges and it, therefore, promotes edge habitats. Studying the impact of edge habitat on species assemblages is crucial to highlight the importance of forest connectivity and guide management strategies. This study explores the impact of forest edges on arthropod assemblages, and particularly investigates the differences of arthropod communities between three habitats, along a distance gradient from the forest edge near a pasture matrix to the core forest. We also compare patterns of arthropod communities with different biogeographic status (endemic, native non-endemic, and introduced species). We sampled in a pristine forest on Terceira island bordered by semi-natural pastures, using flight interception traps. Traps were established along the ecological gradient of three habitats: the forest edge, an intermediate habitat at 100 m from the border, and the core forest at 300 m deep from the border. We took a multi-taxon approach and used both univariate and multivariate techniques to understand the variation in arthropod species abundance, richness and composition between the three habitats in the native forest. Overall, endemic species dominated arthropod abundances whereas species richness and diversity were similar between the three biogeographic categories. We found evidence of a strong edge effect on arthropod assemblages, adjusted both by biogeographic categories and seasonality. Indigenous (endemic and native non-endemic) species abundances were higher in the forest interior than at the edges or intermediate habitats, suggesting that indigenous arthropod assemblages were sensitive to the distance from the edge, whereas introduced species abundances did not show an edge effect. Species diversity and richness did not differ between the three habitats either, regardless of the biogeographic categories. The composition of arthropods between the three habitats differed significantly when we considered all species or endemic species only, but not with native non-endemic or introduced species. However, the difference got obscured when seasonality was included in the analyses, suggesting that even though edges impact species composition, this impact varies seasonally and endemic species are particularly affected in early summer. Our results indicate that forest edges impact arthropod assemblages but endemic species are more likely to be constrained by the increase of edges than introduced species. Since most of these endemic species are of conservation concern, we urge to avoid forest management strategies that increase fragmentation and call for action to increase the size of native forest habitat.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Edge effects constraint endemic but not introduced arthropod species in a pristine forest on Terceira (Azores, Portugal)

Tsafack

Pozsgai

Boieiro

et al. 2022

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…Nevertheless, to fully understand how these taxa shape human activities, the first step is to survey their diversity, abundance structure and variation through time (Dornelas et al 2013). Although the arthropod fauna is one of the most diverse taxon on Earth (Gullan and Cranston 2014, Aberlenc 2020), its diversity is still poorly documented (Sallé et al 2021, Bukowski et al 2022.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Standardised tools and protocols offer the possibility to reproduce science and more defined results on species distributions and their dynamics (Carvalho et al 2012, Malumbres-Olarte et al 2019. Furthermore, importance must be given to the new records as they appear to be new pieces in the complex puzzle of life (Borges and Wunderlich 2008, Borges et al 2013, Bolu and Varga 2021, Borges et al 2022a, especially on islands where they are more likely to be introduced species that can threaten the sustainability of ecosystems (Tylianakis et al 2008, Albrecht et al 2014, Heleno et al 2020.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

SLAM Project - Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the natural forests of Azores: V - New records of terrestrial arthropods after ten years of SLAM sampling

Lhoumeau¹,

Cardoso²,

Boieiro³

et al. 2022

BDJ

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A long-term study monitoring arthropods (Arthropoda) is being conducted since 2012 in the forests of Azorean Islands. Named "SLAM - Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the natural forest of Azores", this project aims to understand the impact of biodiversity erosion drivers in the distribution, abundance and diversity of Azorean arthropods. The current dataset represents arthropods that have been recorded using a total of 42 passive SLAM traps (Sea, Land and Air Malaise) deployed in native, mixed and exotic forest fragments in seven Azorean Islands (Flores, Faial, Pico, Graciosa, Terceira, São Miguel and Santa Maria). This manuscript is the fifth data-paper contribution, based on data from this long-term monitoring project. We targeted taxa for species identification belonging to Arachnida (excluding Acari), Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Hexapoda (excluding Collembola, Lepidoptera, Diptera and Hymenoptera (but including only Formicidae)). Specimens were sampled over seven Azorean Islands during the 2012-2021 period. Spiders (Araneae) data from Pico and Terceira Islands are not included since they have been already published elsewhere (Costa and Borges 2021, Lhoumeau et al. 2022). We collected a total of 176007 specimens, of which 168565 (95.7%) were identified to the species or subspecies level. For Araneae and some Hemiptera species, juveniles are also included in this paper, since the low diversity in the Azores allows a relatively precise species-level identification of this life-stage. We recorded a total of 316 named species and subspecies, belonging to 25 orders, 106 families and 260 genera. The ten most abundant species were mostly endemic or native non-endemic (one Opiliones, one Archaeognatha and seven Hemiptera) and only one exotic species, the Julida Ommatoiulus moreleti (Lucas, 1860). These ten species represent 107330 individuals (60%) of all sampled specimens and can be considered as the dominant species in the Azorean native forests for the target studied taxa. The Hemiptera were the most abundant taxa, with 90127 (50.4%) specimens. The Coleoptera were the most diverse with 30 (28.6%) families. We registered 72 new records for many of the islands (two for Flores, eight for Faial, 24 for Graciosa, 23 for Pico, eight for Terceira, three for São Miguel and four for Santa Maria). These records represent 58 species. None of them is new to the Azores Archipelago. Most of the new records are introduced species, all still with low abundance on the studied islands. This publication contributes to increasing the baseline information for future long-term comparisons of the arthropods of the studied sites and the knowledge of the arthropod fauna of the native forests of the Azores, in terms of species abundance, distribution and diversity throughout seasons and years.

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Edge effects constrain endemic but not introduced arthropod species in a pristine forest on Terceira (Azores, Portugal)

Tsafack

Pozsgai

Boieiro

et al. 2023

Forest Ecology and Management

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SLAM Project - Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the Natural Forest of Azores: III - Testing the impact of edge effects in a native forest of Terceira Island

Cited by 6 publications

References 25 publications

Edge effects constraint endemic but not introduced arthropod species in a pristine forest on Terceira (Azores, Portugal)

Edge effects constraint endemic but not introduced arthropod species in a pristine forest on Terceira (Azores, Portugal)

SLAM Project - Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the natural forests of Azores: V - New records of terrestrial arthropods after ten years of SLAM sampling

Edge effects constrain endemic but not introduced arthropod species in a pristine forest on Terceira (Azores, Portugal)

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