Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Orchid bees (Apidae: Euglossini) and oil palm plantations (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) in eastern Amazon: changes in species composition, body size and functional diversity

In this study, we evaluated the role of legal reserves (LR) and areas of permanent protection (APP) in the maintenance of orchid bee species, and we tested the influence of abiotic and habitat parameters on taxonomic and functional diversity of this group. In addition, we investigated the occurrence of phenotypic variations (body and wing size, and fluctuating asymmetry) in response to environmental stress caused by oil palm plantations. Orchid bee males were sampled in nine areas (3 RL, 3 APP, and 3 oil palm plantations) in the municipality of Tailândia, southeast of the state of Pará. In each area, we installed six separate sampling stations, 500 m apart, each one with six scent traps; totaling 36 traps per area, and 108 per habitat type. We compared differences in observed abundance and richness using a One-Way ANOVA, we evaluated species composition patterns with a PCoA, and we also used a species indicator analysis. A partial RDA was applied to evaluate the influence of habitat attributes, space and habitat type on taxonomic and functional parameters of bees. In addition, we compared body and wing size variations of the individuals through the types of habitat. Our results indicate that oil palm areas are characterized by the presence of few individuals and species, low functional diversity, and by larger bees. Despite this, we recorded four species associated to LR, which can be useful indicators of orchid bee’s communities in the Amazon rainforest. The habitat structure was not a good predictor of both functional and taxonomic composition, and no levels of fluctuating asymmetry were detected, but bees from oil palm showed larger wings compared to forest areas. Our research highlights that APPs play an important role in maintaining both taxonomic and functional composition of orchid bees, which could reinforce the fact that bees use these areas as displacement corridors in a matrix formed by oil palm plantation. Thus, both LRs and PPAs areas fulfill their purpose of protecting the biodiversity of orchid bees.CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível SuperiorNeste trabalho, foi avaliado o papel das reservas legais (RL) e das áreas de preservação permanente (APP) na manutenção das espécies de abelhas das orquídeas, e testada a influência de parâmetros abióticos e estruturais do hábitat sobre a diversidade taxonômica e funcional desse grupo. Além disso, foi investigada a ocorrência de variações fenotípicas (tamanho corporal e de asas e assimetria flutuante) como resposta ao estresse ambiental provocado por plantações de palma de óleo. Os machos de abelhas das orquídeas foram coletados em nove áreas (3 RL, 3 APP e 3 plantios de palma de óleo) no município de Tailândia, sudeste do estado do Pará. Em cada área foram instaladas seis estações de coleta separadas 500 m entre si, contendo seis armadilhas odoríferas; totalizando 36 armadilhas por área e 108 por tipo de hábitat. Foram comparadas as diferenças na abundância e riqueza observadas usando uma ANOVA One-Way, os padrões de composição de espécies foram avaliados através de uma PCoA, e também por uma análise de indicador de espécies. Uma RDA parcial foi aplicada para avaliar a influência de atributos do hábitat, do espaço e do tipo de hábitat sobre parâmetros taxonômicos e funcionais das abelhas. Adicionalmente, foram comparadas as variações de tamanho corporal e de asas dos indivíduos em função do tipo de hábitat. Os resultados deste trabalho indicam que os plantios de palma de óleo são caracterizados pela presença de poucos indivíduos e espécies, baixa diversidade funcional e por abelhas de maior tamanho corporal. Apesar disso, foram registradas quatro espécies associadas às RL, que podem ser indicadores úteis de comunidades de abelhas de orquídeas da floresta Amazônica. A estrutura do hábitat não foi um bom preditor da composição funcional e taxonômica, e não foram detectados níveis de assimetria flutuante, mas as abelhas dos plantios apresentaram asas maiores comparadas com as das áreas de floresta. Esta pesquisa destaca que as APPs desempenham um papel importante na manutenção da composição taxonômica e funcional das abelhas das orquídeas, o que poderia reforçar o fato de que as abelhas utilizam essas áreas como corredores de deslocamento em uma matriz formada por plantação de palma de óleo. Assim, tanto as RLs quanto as PPAs cumprem seu propósito de proteger a biodiversidade das abelhas das orquídeas

Orchid bees (Apidae, Euglossini) from Oil Palm Plantations in Eastern Amazon Have Larger but Not Asymmetrical Wings

Phenotypic variation in both morphology and symmetry of individuals may appear due to environmental stress caused by land-use changes. Here, we evaluated fluctuating asymmetry (FA) and wing size variations of two orchid bee species, Euglossa ignita Smith, 1874 and Eulaema meriana (Olivier, 1789), comparing 11 wing traits. We sampled the individuals from legal reserves (LR), areas of permanent protection (APP), and oil palm plantations (PALM) in Eastern Amazonia. We calculated FA as the absolute difference between the wing measurements made in the right and left wings of specimens and both species’ wing size. We corrected each FA measure for possible directional asymmetry bias by subtracting the mean value of the mean FA signed difference to each FA measure. We compared FA and the size of each wing trait of each species between land-use types using one-way ANOVAs. We found no effect of FA between land-use types, but we observed individuals of both species from PALM areas having larger wings than those from LR areas. Our results demonstrate that there seems to be a pressure exerted by land-use change associated with palm oil cultivation favoring individuals with larger wings, although both species had shown substantial permeability of oil palm