Efeito do manejo florestal sustentável sobre a assembleia de Scarabaeinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) em uma floresta de terra firme na Amazônia Central

Abstract

Tropical forests are suffering several changes due to human activities. Among these, selective logging may represent a less damaging alternative, although it may still alter species compositions of animals and plants in forest ecosystems. Dung beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) are used as bioindicators as they respond quickly to environmental changes. Thus, in this study we tested the effects of time after logging and seasonality on species richness, number of individuals, and assemblage structure of dung beetles in central Brazilian Amazon Forest. We also identified indicator species of logged and unlogged sites. We used the total of 240 flight interception traps (20 per area) in 11 logged sites (between one and 15 years after logging) and one unlogged site. We collected 28,508 dung beetles from 85 species. Most individuals (24,349, 85.41%) were collected during the dry period. Four species were good indicators of the unlogged site, while 21 species were indicators of logged sites. Time after logging and seasonality significantly affected species richness, the number of individuals collected and assemblage structure. These effects were greater from the second to the fifth year after logging. Logged sites represented 77% to 95% of species richness in the unlogged site. From the sixth year after logging, dung beetles assemblages were significantly recovered. Our results show that selective logging in the study sites significantly, but momentarily affected dung beetles diversity. Thus, selective logging practices may not cause irreversible impacts on dung beetles.