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Unexpected high diversity of galling insects in the Amazonian upper canopy: the savanna out there.
Julião, Genimar R; Venticinque, Eduardo M; Fernandes, G Wilson; Price, Peter W.
Afiliação
  • Julião GR; Coordenação de Ecologia, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisa da Amazonia (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil; Fiocruz Rondônia, Laboratório de Entomologia, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil.
  • Venticinque EM; Departamento de Ecologia, CB/Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Campus Universitário, Lagoa Nova, Natal, RN, Brazil.
  • Fernandes GW; Ecologia Evolutiva e Biodiversidade/DBG, C P 486, ICB/Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
  • Price PW; Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, United States of America.
PLoS One ; 9(12): e114986, 2014.
Article em En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-25551769
A relatively large number of studies reassert the strong relationship between galling insect diversity and extreme hydric and thermal status in some habitats, and an overall pattern of a greater number of galling species in the understory of scleromorphic vegetation. We compared galling insect diversity in the forest canopy and its relationship with tree richness among upland terra firme, várzea, and igapó floodplains in Amazonia, Brazil. The soils of these forest types have highly different hydric and nutritional status. Overall, we examined the upper layer of 1,091 tree crowns. Galling species richness and abundance were higher in terra firme forests compared to várzea and igapó forests. GLM-ANCOVA models revealed that the number of tree species sampled in each forest type was determinant in the gall-forming insect diversity. The ratio between galling insect richness and number of tree species sampled (GIR/TSS ratio) was higher in the terra firme forest and in seasonally flooded igapó, while the várzea presented the lowest GIR/TSS ratio. In this study, we recorded unprecedented values of galling species diversity and abundance per sampling point. The GIR/TSS ratio from várzea was approximately 2.5 times higher than the highest value of this ratio ever reported in the literature. Based on this fact, we ascertained that várzea and igapó floodplain forests (with lower GIA and GIR), together with the speciose terra firme galling community emerge as the gall diversity apex landscape among all biogeographic regions already investigated. Contrary to expectation, our results also support the "harsh environment hypothesis", and unveil the Amazonian upper canopy as similar to Mediterranean vegetation habitats, hygrothermically stressed environments with leaf temperature at lethal limits and high levels of leaf sclerophylly.
Assuntos

Texto completo: 1 Coleções: 01-internacional Base de dados: MEDLINE Assunto principal: Árvores / Florestas / Pradaria / Biodiversidade / Insetos Limite: Animals País/Região como assunto: America do sul / Brasil Idioma: En Revista: PLoS One Assunto da revista: CIENCIA / MEDICINA Ano de publicação: 2014 Tipo de documento: Article País de afiliação: Brasil País de publicação: Estados Unidos

Texto completo: 1 Coleções: 01-internacional Base de dados: MEDLINE Assunto principal: Árvores / Florestas / Pradaria / Biodiversidade / Insetos Limite: Animals País/Região como assunto: America do sul / Brasil Idioma: En Revista: PLoS One Assunto da revista: CIENCIA / MEDICINA Ano de publicação: 2014 Tipo de documento: Article País de afiliação: Brasil País de publicação: Estados Unidos