Efeitos do manejo florestal sustentável sobre a assembleia de Histeridae (Coleoptera, Insecta) em uma floresta ombrófila densa na Amazônia brasileira

Abstract

Tropical forests offer essential ecosystem services for the maintenance of life on the planet, however, these forests have been impacted by the modification of natural environments through anthropic actions. These impacts can be mitigated by improving natural resource extraction practices. Sustainable forest management emerges as an alternative for the sustainable use of tropical forests, reconciling the use of timber resources with the maintenance of biodiversity. But, even looking for techniques that minimize impacts on the ecosystem, sustainable forest management can still cause negative effects in these environments. Thus, the identification and use of animal groups sensitive to environmental changes, such as the beetles of the family Histeridae (Insecta: Coleoptera), can contribute to the evaluation and improvement of practices that reduce impacts to the ecosystem. Thus, our objective was to evaluate the effects of low impact logging on the Histeridae assembly in a terra firma forest in the Brazilian Amazon. We identified species that are indicative of the explored and unexplored areas and evaluated the effects of the time elapsed after logging, the season (dry and rainy) and the volume of wood explored on the Histeridae assembly. Still, considering the lack of studies evaluating the effects of environmental changes on the functional diversity of beetles in the Histeridae family, we assessed how the functional diversity of hysteria was affected by sustainable forest management and the time elapsed after logging in both seasons. For this, 11 areas explored (2004 to 2018) and one area not explored were sampled. We used 240 flight interception traps to carry out a qualitative and quantitative survey and to evaluate the hysteroid functional diversity indices in the areas sampled in both seasons. To compare the functional diversity between areas and seasons, we calculated three indices: functional richness (FRic), functional uniformity (FEve) and functional dispersion (FDis). 2,346 individuals were collected, distributed in 11 genera and 61 species / morphospecies. The wealth, abundance and structure of the Histeridae assembly were influenced by the season, the time elapsed after logging and the volume of wood explored. Twelve species that identified the unexplored environment were identified, one morphospecies indicating the explored environment. There was a reduction in wealth and abundance in the areas explored, especially in the dry season. There was also variation in the structure between the areas explored and not explored in the different sampling stations. We identified 19 functional groups and 41 species with the shape of the convex ovoid body and nine species with appendages with hypertrophy. Most species of Histeridae beetles have been associated with manure and social insects. We classified 27 species as mesohisteridae and 27 as microhysteridae. The richness, uniformity and functional dispersion were influenced by the different seasons and only the richness and functional uniformity were affected by the time that elapsed after logging. We point out impacts of sustainable forest management on the Histeridae assembly, with a reduction in species richness and in the abundance of individuals in the areas explored, especially during the dry season. Our study demonstrates the efficiency of using this family in detecting changes in the forest environment and the importance of the Histeridae assembly as a bioindicator. Our results still suggest changes in the functional diversity of hysteria caused by the seasons and the time elapsed after exploration. Comparing each explored area with the unexplored area, we noticed a loss of functional wealth and an increase in functional uniformity in the explored areas. The set of areas explored supported most of the functional groups found. This suggests that the impact on the functional diversity of beetles in the Histeridae family caused by sustainable forest management in a set of areas with different ages of exploitation and at different stages of recovery is low.