Environmental heterogeneity is considered an important factor supporting the evolution and maintenance of biodiversity. At small scales, such heterogeneity is thought to promote species co-existence ...through an increase in niche opportunities. Amazonia, the largest and most biodiverse rainforest in the world, presents a large number of vegetation types within its territory. Here, we tested the hypothesis that butterfly assemblages differ among five vegetation types at a small scale (less than 1 km2) in a region of Southern Amazonia. The vegetation types studied were forest gap, terra firme, igapó, semi-deciduous forest, and bamboo forest. The richest and most abundant community was in forest gap; igapó was the least rich, but held the second most abundant community and the only one with nine indicator species instead of two or three. Assemblage composition differed among all vegetation types, with the exception of forest gap and bamboo forest. Different light levels, temperatures, humidity, and host plant availability among vegetation types are likely relevant factors influencing these butterfly assemblages. The results suggest that the presence of various vegetation types in the region promotes the coexistence of butterfly species, and that specific threats to each vegetation type should be addressed to conserve the region’s biodiversity.
Recent studies have argued that changes in fire regimes in the 21st century are posing a major threat to global biodiversity. In this scenario, incorporating species’ physiological, ecological, and ...evolutionary traits with their local fire exposure might facilitate accurate identification of species most at risk from fire. Here, we developed a framework for identifying the animal species most vulnerable to extinction from fire-induced stress in the Brazilian savanna. The proposed framework addresses vulnerability from two components: (1) exposure, which refers to the frequency, extent, and magnitude to which a system or species experiences fire, and (2) sensitivity, which reflects how much species are affected by fire. Sensitivity is based on biological, physiological, and behavioral traits that can influence animals’ mortality “during” and “after” fire. We generated a Fire Vulnerability Index (FVI) that can be used to group species into four categories, ranging from extremely vulnerable (highly sensible species in highly exposed areas), to least vulnerable (low-sensitivity species in less exposed areas). We highlight the urgent need to broaden fire vulnerability assessment methods and introduce a new approach considering biological traits that contribute significantly to a species’ sensitivity alongside regional/local fire exposure.
Understanding the mechanisms underlying species distributions and coexistence is both a priority and a challenge for biodiversity hotspots such as the Neotropics. Here, we highlight that Müllerian ...mimicry, where defended prey species display similar warning signals, is key to the maintenance of biodiversity in the c. 400 species of the Neotropical butterfly tribe Ithomiini (Nymphalidae: Danainae). We show that mimicry drives large‐scale spatial association among phenotypically similar species, providing new empirical evidence for the validity of Müller's model at a macroecological scale. Additionally, we show that mimetic interactions drive the evolutionary convergence of species climatic niche, thereby strengthening the co‐occurrence of co‐mimetic species. This study provides new insights into the importance of mutualistic interactions in shaping both niche evolution and species assemblages at large spatial scales. Critically, in the context of climate change, our results highlight the vulnerability to extinction cascades of such adaptively assembled communities tied by positive interactions.
Mutualistic interactions shape global spatial patterns and climatic niche evolution in Neotropical mimetic butterflies: mimicry turnover at the continental scale demonstrates large‐scale spatial congruence of phenotypically similar ithomiine butterflies (Nymphalidae: Danainae) associated with the climatic niche convergence of mimetic species.
Abstract
Regional species diversity is explained ultimately by speciation, extinction and dispersal. Here, we estimate dispersal and speciation rates of Neotropical butterflies to propose an ...explanation for the distribution and diversity of extant species. We focused on the tribe Brassolini (owl butterflies and allies), a Neotropical group that comprises 17 genera and 108 species, most of them endemic to rainforest biomes. We inferred a robust species tree using the multispecies coalescent framework and a dataset including molecular and morphological characters. This formed the basis for three changes in Brassolini classification: (1) Naropina syn. nov. is subsumed within Brassolina; (2) Aponarope syn. nov. is subsumed within Narope; and (3) Selenophanes orgetorix comb. nov. is reassigned from Catoblepia to Selenophanes. By applying biogeographical stochastic mapping, we found contrasting species diversification and dispersal dynamics across rainforest biomes, which might be explained, in part, by the geological and environmental history of each bioregion. Our results revealed a mosaic of biome-specific evolutionary histories within the Neotropics, where butterfly species have diversified rapidly (cradles: Mesoamerica), have accumulated gradually (museums: Atlantic Forest) or have diversified and accumulated alternately (Amazonia). Our study contributes evidence from a major butterfly lineage that the Neotropics are a museum and a cradle of species diversity.
The Neotropics harbour the most diverse flora and fauna on Earth. The Andes are a major centre of diversification and source of diversity for adjacent areas in plants and vertebrates, but studies on ...insects remain scarce, even though they constitute the largest fraction of terrestrial biodiversity. Here, we combine molecular and morphological characters to generate a dated phylogeny of the butterfly genus Pteronymia (Nymphalidae: Danainae), which we use to infer spatial, elevational and temporal diversification patterns. We first propose six taxonomic changes that raise the generic species total to 53, making Pteronymia the most diverse genus of the tribe Ithomiini. Our biogeographic reconstruction shows that Pteronymia originated in the Northern Andes, where it diversified extensively. Some lineages colonized lowlands and adjacent montane areas, but diversification in those areas remained scarce. The recent colonization of lowland areas was reflected by an increase in the rate of evolution of species' elevational ranges towards present. By contrast, speciation rate decelerated with time, with no extinction. The geological history of the Andes and adjacent regions have likely contributed to Pteronymia diversification by providing compartmentalized habitats and an array of biotic and abiotic conditions, and by limiting dispersal between some areas while promoting interchange across others.
A brief historical review regarding the type locality of
Euptychia stigmatica
Godman, 1905 was conducted, which suggests that its type locality is actually Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, rather than ...northeastern Argentina, as previously purported. Consequently,
E. stigmatica
and its senior synonym
E. cyanites
Butler, 1871, are regarded to be two species-group names representing a taxon in the euptychiine genus
Caeruleuptychia
Forster, 1964 known from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. A lectotype is designated for
E. cyanites
. Additionally, two closely related species are named and described using an integrative approach with morphological and molecular evidence.
Caeruleuptychia harrisi
Nakahara & Freitas,
sp. nov.
and
C. aemulatio
Nakahara & Willmott,
sp. nov.
both occur in Amazonia and COI barcode data recovered these taxa as part of the
caerulea
clade of
Caeruleuptychia
.
The Amazon region represents more than a half of all tropical forests in the world, and has been threatened by many anthropogenic activities, including several kinds of timber harvesting. The ...reduced-impact logging (RIL) is considered a less destructive method of timber harvesting, but there is a general lack of information about the effects on Amazonian invertebrates, including butterflies. We investigated the effect of RIL on fruit-feeding butterflies by comparing canopy and understory between an area under RIL and a control area without RIL. The canopy fauna is different and significantly richer than the understory fauna, showing that sampling only the lower strata underestimates the diversity of fruit-feeding butterflies. The effects of RIL were mainly detected in the understory butterfly assemblage, as significant differences were observed in species composition within this stratum. Effects of the RIL regime, which include tree cutting, skid trails and roads openings, are stronger in the understory than in the canopy, explaining the reported differences. Despite the detectable effects of RIL on the composition of fruit-feeding butterfly assemblages, the overall diversity was not affected. A similar pattern has been detected in many other groups, indicating that a noticeable part of the diversity of many taxa could be preserved in areas under RIL management. Therefore, in view of the problems of creating protected areas in the Amazon, RIL is a good alternative to preserve fruit-feeding butterflies and surely many other taxa, and it might be a desirable economic alternative for the region.
The Amazon basin contains few obvious geographic barriers, yet it is the most biodiverse region on Earth. One hypothesis to explain its diversity is that the very large rivers promote allopatric ...divergence. Consistent with this, maps of heliconiine butterflies made from museum specimens show high subspecies richness close to the Amazon river, suggesting that it may produce or maintain intra‐specific phenotypic variability. However, museum data are subject to strong spatial biases (the ‘Wallacean shortfall' of distribution data), raising the possibility that this pattern is a sampling artefact. To test this, we systematically collected along a ~900 km north–south transect running through central Amazonia. We found a significant association between phenotypic diversity and major rivers, with distance from the Amazon river explaining 61% of the variance in the mean polymorphism of 25 species. This association is partly because many species exhibit different phenotypes on either side of the river. Nonetheless, we also find sites with high polymorphism close to the river, indicating continual cross‐river dispersal. Our results strongly suggest the presence of a suture zone (a region where multiple species have hybrid zones) near the city of Manaus. However, the effect of the river on spatial patterns of intra‐specific phenotypic diversity depends on a species' mimetic phenotype. Rather than being absolute barriers, our results support the idea that rivers can act as partial barriers that trap moving hybrid zones, resulting in a suture zone. As such, the wide Amazonian rivers help generate and maintain colour pattern diversity, but to date there is no evidence that they lead to speciation in our study group.
Currently, a large‐scale restoration project aims to restore around 15 million hectares of Atlantic Forest in Brazil. This will increase forest cover and connectivity among remnant sites as well as ...restore environmental services. Currently, studies on recovery of fauna in restored areas of the Atlantic Forest are practically nonexistent. To address this knowledge vacuum, our study compares diversity patterns of fruit‐feeding butterflies in three forest areas with different restoration ages (11, 22, and 54 years), and uses a native forest area as reference. Results showed butterfly communities in maturing restored areas becoming more similar to the ones found in the native forest, with an increase in the proportional abundance of forest species, and a decrease of edge and grassland species. Moreover, we found a higher diversity among sites at the intermediate restoration age, with a community composed of both grassland and forest species. Butterfly species composition differed significantly among sites, showing interesting patterns of potential species replacement over time. Our results indicate that, although restored sites were located in a fragmented landscape, they provide suitable habitats for recolonization by fruit‐feeding butterfly assemblages. Hence, restored areas can be considered important habitat for forest animal species, increasing local biodiversity and, possibly, restoring some of the ecosystem services provided by them.
Nowadays 37% of Earth’s ice-free land is composed by fragments of natural habitats settled in anthropogenic biomes. Therefore, we have to improve our knowledge about distribution of organisms in ...remnants and to understand how the matrix affects these distributions. In this way, the present study aims to describe the structure of the butterfly assemblages and determined how richness and abundance are influenced by the scale of the surrounding vegetation. General linear models were used to investigate how the type and scale of vegetation cover within a radius of 100–2,000 m around the sampling point explained butterfly diversity. After sampling ten forest fragments we found 6,488 individuals of 73 species. For all clades tested null models explain the species richness at the fragments better than other models when we include the effect of butterfly abundance as a covariate. Abundance of Satyrini, Brassolini, and Biblidinae were best predicted by small scales (100–200 m), and large scales were more suited for Charaxinae. The presence of pasture best explains the abundance of all groups except Charaxinae, which was best explained by early-regrowth forest. The abundance of different species and groups are correlated with different kinds of vegetation cover. However, we demonstrate that small scales (100–200 m) are more effective at explaining the abundance of most butterflies. These results strongly suggest that efforts to preserve insect diversity in forest fragments should take in account the immediate surroundings of the fragment, and not only the regional landscape as a whole. In general, actions of people living near forest fragments are as important to fruit-feeding butterflies as large scale actions are, with the former being seldom specified in management plans or conservation policies.
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