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. 2018 Jul 3:6:e5153.
doi: 10.7717/peerj.5153. eCollection 2018.

Beetles in bamboo forests: community structure in a heterogeneous landscape of southwestern Amazonia

Jennifer M Jacobs #  1 , Rudolf von May #  2 , David H Kavanaugh  3 , Edward F Connor  1
Affiliations

Beetles in bamboo forests: community structure in a heterogeneous landscape of southwestern Amazonia

Jennifer M Jacobs et al. PeerJ. .

Abstract

Amazonian bamboo forests dominated by large woody bamboo plants in the genus Guadua cover approximately 180,000 km2 and represent a key resource for many organisms. In southwestern Amazonia, native bamboo forests differ in structure, biodiversity, and growth dynamics from other forest types in the region. However, with the exception of a few species in which habitat specialization or a strong habitat association has been demonstrated, little is known about how bamboo forests influence animal community structure. In an effort to understand more about the animal assemblages associated with Amazonian bamboo forests, we characterized the structure of ground-dwelling beetle assemblages living in bamboo forests and adjacent terra firme forests in a lowland rainforest site in Peru. We conducted intensive pitfall trap surveys in 13 bamboo habitat patches and 13 adjacent terra firme habitat patches to determine if there were differences in the abundance and richness of beetle species in these two habitat types. Additionally, given that southwestern Amazonia experiences distinct dry and wet seasons, we conducted our study during the dry and wet season of one year to account for differences in seasonality. We found a distinct beetle assemblage associated with each forest type, and identified a set of dominant species that significantly contributed to the distinctness in beetle community structure between bamboo and terra firme forest. The terra firme forest had a greater number of rare species than the bamboo forest. Several beetle species exhibited a strong association with the bamboo forest, including a large species of Scarabaeidae that appears to be specializing on bamboo. We also found marked differences in beetle assemblages between dry and wet seasons. Our results support the prediction that beetle community structure in bamboo forest differs from that of terra firme in terms of species richness, abundance, and composition. Bamboo-associated animal communities require more exploration and study, and must be included in regional conservation plans seeking to protect entire animal communities in southwestern Amazonia.

Keywords: Biodiversity; Coleoptera; Guadua bamboo; Pitfall traps; Terra firme.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare there are no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Map of southeastern Peru showing the location of the study area and other protected areas.
All collecting took place near Los Amigos Biological Station, which is found on the southernmost border of the Los Amigos Conservation Concession. The other natural protected areas are Manu National Park, Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, Tambopata National Reserve, and Bahuaja-Sonene National Park. The inset shows the location of the study area in South America (Peru highlighted in yellow; area shown in detail in orange polygon). Map by Rudolf von May, made with QGIS (https://qgis.org/en/site/).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Views of a dense patch of Guadua weberbauri bamboo habitat with trail cut through patch (A) and of the terra firme habitat (B) studied at Los Amigos Biological Station, Peru.
Photographs by Jennifer M. Jacobs.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Map of the study area showing the general location of trap arrays (orange circles).
The name of each trap array is noted in white and the trail system of Los Amigos Biological Station is shown in light blue. Scale bar = 2 km. Source of background and trail system layers: Google Satellite and Amazon Conservation Association.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Sampling scheme of paired sites in bamboo and terra firme forest.
Each pair of forest types received the same number of pitfall traps in the same array. Pitfall trap arrays were always greater than 10 m from the edge of a forest type and individual traps were always five meters apart.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Species accumulation curves.
(A) The number of species collected in bamboo and terra firme forests as a function of sampling effort and (B) the number of species collected in bamboo and terra firme forests as a function of number of individuals collected (shaded areas indicate 95% confidence intervals).
Figure 6
Figure 6. Whitaker plots comparing rank abundances between (A) forest types and (B) seasons.
Species are ranked according to their abundances. Each letter represents one species, and the ten most abundant species are ordered. For each plot, one letter represents the same species, and a new letter is assigned for every new species. However, the letters are not constant for both plots in that species D in (A) may not be species D in (B). The lettered order illustrates that the ten most abundant species are not the same for bamboo and terra firme, and dry and wet seasons.
Figure 7
Figure 7. nMDS plot illustrating beetle community structure between bamboo and terra firme forest with data from all families and seasons pooled.
The plot exhibits distinct communities of beetles in the two forest types with some degree of overlap between assemblages. Distance measure = Bray–Curtis. Legend: B, Bamboo forest; TF, Terra firme forest.
Figure 8
Figure 8. Matched rank/occurrence plots for (A) bamboo and terra firme forest and (B) dry and wet seasons.
Each pair of positive and negative bars represents the relative abundance of one species in each forest type or each season. The letter “A” column represents beetles from the family Carabidae, “B” represents Curculionidae, “C” represents Histeridae and “D” represents Scarabaeidae.
Figure 9
Figure 9. Plots expressing variation in (A) numbers of individuals/trap and (B) numbers of unique species/trap captured between dry and wet seasons, for bamboo forest compared to terra firme forest, at all sites.
(A) Each bar represents the difference in number of individuals/trap captured between the dry and wet season in one forest type. (B) Each bar represents the number of unique (not shared) species captured/trap in the dry and wet season, in one forest type. In both (A) and (B), the pattern to observe is the difference between the paired bars, not that some bars are higher than others. Overall, there was more variation in the numbers of individuals captured and greater species turnover between dry and wet seasons in the terra firme forest compared to bamboo forest.
Figure 10
Figure 10. nMDS plots comparing beetle community structure between bamboo and terra firme forest in (A) the wet season only and (B) the dry season only.
There is a greater distinction in beetle community structure between bamboo and terra firme forest in the wet season compared to the dry season.
Figure 11
Figure 11. Individual of male Enema pan perching outside of his mound entrance at the base of a Guadua weberbaueri stem.
Enema pan beetles construct these mounds connecting underground to approximately 1-meter long tunnels. When the mound is closed during the day, they stay hidden in their tunnels and feed on bamboo sap through the bark that they have shredded at the base of the bamboo stem. They open their mounds at night and perch at the entrance of their mound, presumably looking for mates or guarding the entrances to the mound. Photograph by Jennifer M. Jacobs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

Funding of the field component of this study was provided by the ARCS foundation and the Amazon Conservation Association, to Jennifer Jacobs. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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