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La Cava S, Rijllo G, Zucco G, Innocenti S, Guasti M, Puletti N, Ferrara C, Scalercio S. Moths in space: The below-canopy structure of forest drives abundance and mobility-related traits of moth communities. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 921:171056. [PMID: 38382613 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2023] [Revised: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024]
Abstract
The distribution of species is primarily driven by the availability of trophic resources. In a given forest type, insects trophically related to the dominant tree are expected to be evenly distributed due to the abundance of their foodplant. However, their distribution is also influenced by complex relationships with abiotic and biotic parameters such as available space, predatory pressure, and morphometric traits. In this study, we investigated how the three-dimensional structure of space below the canopy may affect the composition of nocturnal lepidoptera communities. To synthesise the complexity of the dispersal behaviour of these insects, we evaluated easily measurable traits such as wingspan and the presence of tympanic organs, both connected to their mobility and thus potentially influenced by the structure of the available flight space. The study was conducted in the Sila National Park (Italy), where 12 sampling sites were selected in pine forests and an additional 12 in beech forests. Forest spatial structure was investigated using a portable terrestrial laser scanner. Moths were sampled monthly using light traps from May to October in both 2019 and 2020. Among measured forest traits, we observed that the space above three meters from the ground is the only factor influencing community composition. Larger species with tympanic organs prefer environments with less space below tree canopies. Our findings could be the starting point for future studies that investigate a potential defence strategy of moths against bats, as tympanate and larger species not only actively avoid chiropter predation but could also choose denser forests because of a lower bat activity. Moths' distribution and community composition thus appear to be significantly shaped by the spatial structure of forests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara La Cava
- Council for agricultural research and economics, Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, I-87036 Rende, Italy.
| | - Giuseppe Rijllo
- Council for agricultural research and economics, Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, I-87036 Rende, Italy
| | - Giada Zucco
- Council for agricultural research and economics, Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, I-87036 Rende, Italy
| | - Simone Innocenti
- Council for agricultural research and economics, Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, I-52100 Arezzo, Italy
| | - Matteo Guasti
- Council for agricultural research and economics, Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, I-52100 Arezzo, Italy
| | - Nicola Puletti
- Council for agricultural research and economics, Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, I-52100 Arezzo, Italy
| | - Carlotta Ferrara
- Council for agricultural research and economics, Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, I-00166 Rome, Italy
| | - Stefano Scalercio
- Council for agricultural research and economics, Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, I-87036 Rende, Italy
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Scalercio S, Di Marco C, Puletti N. A georeferenced dataset of nocturnal macrolepidoptera: A tool for forest management and biodiversity conservation. Data Brief 2022; 41:107882. [PMID: 35146097 PMCID: PMC8818905 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2022.107882] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2021] [Revised: 01/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
In this paper we provide a georeferenced dataset of raw data concerning occurrence and abundance of nocturnal macrolepidoptera, an insect group largely recognized as a good ecological indicator of forest ecosystems. Data have been collected by using light traps located in 15 beech and 20 Calabrian black pine forest lots, 20 of which included in Natura 2000 sites. The sampling was carried out monthly lasting from May to late October 2019 and 2020 in order to cover the entire period during which favourable conditions for adult monitoring occurred, and to encompass phenological changes occurring across seasons in moth diversity. The dataset is composed by a total of 42,834 individuals belonging to 363 species. Due to the relatively small attractive radius of used light traps (about 25 m), georeferenced lepidopteran data can be easily correlated to any kind of spatial environmental variables and forest attributes and to their temporal variations being useful to quantify also the effects of long-term ecological drivers.
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Sire L, Yáñez PS, Wang C, Bézier A, Courtial B, Cours J, Fontaneto D, Larrieu L, Bouget C, Thorn S, Müller J, Yu DW, Monaghan MT, Herniou EA, Lopez-Vaamonde C. Climate-induced forest dieback drives compositional changes in insect communities that are more pronounced for rare species. Commun Biol 2022; 5:57. [PMID: 35042989 PMCID: PMC8766456 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02968-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2021] [Accepted: 12/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Species richness, abundance and biomass of insects have recently undergone marked declines in Europe. We metabarcoded 211 Malaise-trap samples to investigate whether drought-induced forest dieback and subsequent salvage logging had an impact on ca. 3000 species of flying insects in silver fir Pyrenean forests. While forest dieback had no measurable impact on species richness, there were significant changes in community composition that were consistent with those observed during natural forest succession. Importantly, most observed changes were driven by rare species. Variation was explained primarily by canopy openness at the local scale, and the tree-related microhabitat diversity and deadwood amount at landscape scales. The levels of salvage logging in our study did not explain compositional changes. We conclude that forest dieback drives changes in species assemblages that mimic natural forest succession, and markedly increases the risk of catastrophic loss of rare species through homogenization of environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas Sire
- Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l'Insecte (IRBI), UMR 7261, CNRS-Université de Tours, Tours, France.
| | - Paul Schmidt Yáñez
- Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Müggelseedamm 301, 12587, Berlin, Germany
| | - Cai Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, 650223, China
- Kunming College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China
| | - Annie Bézier
- Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l'Insecte (IRBI), UMR 7261, CNRS-Université de Tours, Tours, France
| | | | - Jérémy Cours
- INRAE 'Forest Ecosystems' Research Unit - Biodiversity team Domaine des Barres, F-45290, Nogent-sur-Vernisson, France
| | - Diego Fontaneto
- Water Research Institute, National Research Council of Italy, CNR-IRSA, Largo Tonolli 50, 28922, Verbania Pallanza, Italy
| | - Laurent Larrieu
- Université de Toulouse, INRAE, UMR DYNAFOR, Castanet-Tolosan, France
- CRPF Occitanie, Tarbes, France
| | - Christophe Bouget
- INRAE 'Forest Ecosystems' Research Unit - Biodiversity team Domaine des Barres, F-45290, Nogent-sur-Vernisson, France
| | - Simon Thorn
- Field Station Fabrikschleichach, Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Glashüttenstraße 5, 96181, Rauhenebrach, Germany
| | - Jörg Müller
- Field Station Fabrikschleichach, Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Glashüttenstraße 5, 96181, Rauhenebrach, Germany
- Bavarian Forest National Park, Freyunger Str. 2, 94481, Grafenau, Germany
| | - Douglas W Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, 650223, China
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, Norfolk, NR47TJ, UK
| | - Michael T Monaghan
- Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Müggelseedamm 301, 12587, Berlin, Germany
- Institut für Biologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Königin-Luise-Straße. 1-3, 12489, Berlin, Germany
| | - Elisabeth A Herniou
- Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l'Insecte (IRBI), UMR 7261, CNRS-Université de Tours, Tours, France
| | - Carlos Lopez-Vaamonde
- Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l'Insecte (IRBI), UMR 7261, CNRS-Université de Tours, Tours, France
- INRAE, Zoologie Forestière, F-45075, Orléans, France
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