Mechanisms of diversity maintenance in dung beetle assemblages in a heterogeneous tropical landscape

Anthropized landscapes play a crucial role in biodiversity conservation, as they encompass about 90% of the remaining tropical forest. Effective conservation strategies require a deep understanding of how anthropic disturbances determine diversity patterns across these landscapes. Here, we evaluated how attributes and assembly mechanisms of dung beetle communities vary across the Selva El Ocote Biosphere Reserve (REBISO) landscape. Methods. Community attributes (species diversity, abundance, and biomass) were assessed at the landscape scale, using spatial windows and vegetation classes. Windows were categorized as intact, variegated, or fragmented based on their percent cover of tropical forest. The vegetation classes analyzed were tropical forest, second-growth forest, and pastures. Results. We collected 15,457 individuals and 55 species. Variegated windows, tropical forests, and second-growth forests showed the highest diversity values, while the lowest values were found in intact windows and pastures. Landscape fragmentation was positively and strongly related to dung beetle diversity and negatively related to their abundance; biomass was positively associated with forest cover. Beta diversity was the primary driver of the high dung beetle diversity in the landscape analyzed. Discussion. The landscape heterogeneity and its biodiversity-friendly matrix facilitate the complementarity of dung beetle assemblages in the Selva El Ocote Biosphere Reserve. Random processes govern beta diversity patterns in intact and variegated windows. Therefore, vegetation cover in the region is sufficient to maintain a continuous flow of dung beetles between forested landscape segments. However, intense anthropic disturbances acted as deterministic environmental filters in fragmented windows and pastures sites, leading to biotic homogenization processes. Our results suggest that increasing habitat variegation in highly fragmented sites is an effective strategy to prevent or buffer homogenization processes in the REBISO landscape.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Rivera, Jose D. autor, Gómez y Gómez, Benigno Maestro autor 6857, Navarrete Gutiérrez, Darío Alejandro Doctor autor 8377, Ruiz Montoya, Lorena 1964- Doctora autora 5452, Delgado, Leonardo autor, Favila Castillo, Mario Enrique Doctor autor 14154
Format:	Texto biblioteca
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Escarabajos del estiércol, Diversidad de especies, Diversidad beta, Cubierta forestal, Paisajes fragmentados, Artfrosur,
Online Access:	https://peerj.com/articles/9860/#
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