Paper #17900

Changes in beetle community associated with a

successional gradient in a Mexican tropical dry forest
Cesar Manrique-Ascencio, Centro de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas, Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia, Mexico, Karina Boege, Ecología evolutiva,
Instituto de Ecología, UNAM, México, Mexico and Ek del-Val, Centro de Investigaciones
en Ecosistemas, Morelia, Mexico

Background/Question/Methods

Beetles (Coleoptera) are the most diverse group on Earth for this reason they are good
indicators of general biodiversity and conservation status of a particular ecosystem. Plant
succession in tropical forests has been well-studied, nevertheless we do not have the same
information for insect-communities, we do not know the assemblage rules and the expected
insect community associated with plant succession. This investigation evaluated the
composition and abundance of the Coleoptera community associated with the vegetational
succession of the tropical dry forest in Mexico. We set up 12 permanent plots of tropical
dry forest corresponding to grasslands, 3-5 years of abandonment, 8-12 years of
abandonment and mature forest, with 3 replicates per successional stage. During the 2007
rainy season we sampled the beetle community associated with all the plants present in 4
transects of 2x25m per plot, up to 3m height, once per month.

Results/Conclusions

Total beetle species richness was higher in the grasslands (128) and in forests of 3-5 years
(141) in comparison with mature forests (56) and forests of 8-12 years (50) in all samplings
(P=0.03). The two most common families (accounting for 50% of species) across sampled
plots were: Chrysomelidae and Curculionidae. Abundance was also higher in the grasslands
(50 individuals / sample) and it decreased with sucessional age. Mature forest had the
lowest abundance per transect (10 individuals / sample) (P <0.001). Rarefaction curves
comparing the four succesional stages showed that grasslands are the best sampled stage
while mature forests need further sampling to complete the assemblage. Regarding trophic
guilds, not surprising most beetle species are herbivorous followed by predators and
saprophagous, this trend was consistent in the four successional stages. We discuss the
implications of these beetle community patterns for ecosystem functioning.