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 un derstanding 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,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 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 underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities 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 or ganism 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 ne glected 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 lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

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

Heteragrion calafatiensis (Odonata: Heteragrionidae) sp. nov. from Northern Brazil

The Neotropical genus Heteragrion Selys, 1862 is the second most speciose among the Neotropical Zygoptera. However, most of its species are poorly known regarding their biology, distribution, and taxonomy, especially those from undersampled areas like Northern Brazil. Here we describe Heteragrion calafatiensis sp. nov. from the coastal environments of the Brazilian Amazon of Pará state (Holotype ♂, Brazil, Pará, municipality of Magalhães Barata, near the Marapanim River, (-0.863291, -47.668058, 20 m, 26.ix.2021), C.C. Mendoza-Penagos leg, in UFPA). This is the nineth Heteragrion species recorded for the Northern region of Brazil. The new species can be separated from congeners by cercal morphology and thoracic coloration pattern.&#x0D;  </jats:p

Heteragrion calafatiensis Mendoza-Penagos & Juen & Vilela 2022, sp. nov.

Heteragrion calafatiensis sp. nov. Mendoza-Penagos, Juen & Vilela, 2022 (Figs. 1, 2a–d) Holotype. &male; (C1523), Brazil, Pará, Municipality of Magalhães Barata, way to Calafate village, near to the Marapanim River, (-0.863291, -47.668058), 20 m, 26.ix.2021, C.C. Mendoza-Penagos leg., UFPA. Etymology. Named calafatiensis (adjective) in reference to the village of Calafate (type locality) in the Northeastern region of Pará state. Description of holotype Head (Figs. 1, 2a). Eyes yellow; labium and labrum brown; base of mandibles and genae pale, apex of mandibles black; antefrons pale yellow; vertex and remainder of head black, except for a curved pale yellow stripe connecting lateral ocelli with the antennae. Thorax (Figs. 1, 2b). Prothorax mostly yellow, lighter-colored laterally, with darker tones on dorsal areas: one brown stripe on each side of midline and another medial one; hind lobe rounded, mostly dark brown with yellow lateral stripes. Pterothorax with a black middorsal carina, and a thin pale yellow humeral stripe; mesepisternum mostly orange with a dark posterior spot; mesopleural suture pale yellow; mesepimeron dark orange; upper half of metepisternum pale yellow, remainder orange; remainder of pterothorax pale, except for a thin orange stripe on metepimeron. Coxae and trochanter pale yellow; femora alternating pale yellow and dark brown areas; tibiae brown; tarsi dark brown. Wings (Fig. 1). Hyaline, almost reaching S6 when closed; venation black, Pt dark brown; Pt overlying 3 cells in all wings, oblique proximally; 2 Pq cells in all wings; 18 Px in FW, 16 Px in HW. Abdomen (Fig. 1a). S1 pale yellow, with darker tones laterally and dorsally; S2 black dorsally, pale yellow laterally; S3–6 black with medially interrupted pale yellow basal rings and pale yellow medial stripes; S7 black with a thick medially interrupted pale yellow basal ring and a roughly quadrangular spot medially; S8–9 mostly black, pale yellow areas laterally; S10 orange laterally, with black borders and black dorsum. Anal appendages (Figs. 2c–d). Cercus dark brown with darker coloration especially on apex, carinas and spines; ventrobasal expansion absent; MP rounded, platelike morphology, rounded apex; ScP forming a small ridge bearing 4–5 denticles. Paraprocts pale yellow, posteriorly oriented, not reaching 1/2 of cercus, acute apex. Measurements. FW 21.6; HW 20.9; Abdomen 32.3; Total 39.6. Female. Unknown. Differential diagnosis. Heteragrion calafatiensis sp. nov. belongs to Heteragrion Group B (sensu Lencioni 2013), in which males possess an elongated paraproct. The morphologically closest species to H. calafatiensis is H. chlorotaeniatum De Marmels, 1989, and those two species can be separated by the following character combination (H. chlorotaeniatum in parentheses): VbA absent (VbA present, Fig. 2f), MP (Fig. 2c) with rounded apex (MP with acute apex, Fig. 2e), ScP forming a small ridge bearing 4–5 denticles (Fig. 2c) in a single row (ScP forming a curved ridge bearing several teeth in a single row, Fig. 2e), paraprocts (Fig. 2d) posteriorly oriented (paraprocts dorsally oriented, Fig. 2f). Habitat and Ecology. The new species was found around 10:30 am, perched approximately 2 m high, on the branches that come off shrubs in a ravine along the banks of a small stream, in an Upland Forest shady area (Fig. 3). Upland Forests are forests that develop in areas not subjected to flooding due to their location, mostly in higher regions of the Amazon relief (Vicentini 2001). The weather conditions on the collection day were very sunny, despite the little sun on the collection site. The vegetation is dominated by shrubs and medium-sized trees in that location. The stream bottom is mainly composed of sand and grass, clear water and a maximum depth of 10 cm. Upstream, the environment in Calafate consists of a first-order stream (narrower than 1m) with slow current, with an open area in full sunlight, forming a small pool (approximately 80–90 cm deep) with several macrophyte individuals. This portion of the stream is inhabited mainly by species from lentic environments such as: Acanthagrion kennedii Williamson, 1916, Erythrodiplax castanea (Burmeister, 1839), Micrathyria sp., Orthemis discolor (Burmeister, 1839) and Perithemis thais Kirby, 1889.Published as part of Mendoza-Penagos, Cristian Camilo, Juen, Leandro & Vilela, Diogo Silva, 2022, Heteragrion calafatiensis (Odonata: Heteragrionidae) sp. nov. from Northern Brazil, pp. 223-229 in Zootaxa 5124 (2) on pages 224-227, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5124.2.7, http://zenodo.org/record/640511

Heteragrion calafatiensis (Odonata: Heteragrionidae) sp. nov. from Northern Brazil

Mendoza-Penagos, Cristian Camilo, Juen, Leandro, Vilela, Diogo Silva (2022): Heteragrion calafatiensis (Odonata: Heteragrionidae) sp. nov. from Northern Brazil. Zootaxa 5124 (2): 223-229, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5124.2.

Assessing sodium limitation as a resource for ground-dwelling ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in an area of the Amazonian Terra Firme Forest

The availability of nutrients in the soil acts as a filter in the ants that inhabit this layer, affecting their foraging patterns and showing preferences or limitations on their nutritional needs. Especially in environments far from the ocean, the salt deficit can be a limiting resource in the environment. Here, we test whether changes in species richness and composition reveal food preferences for ants that inhabit the soil, using sugar and salt as attractions in an area of the Amazon Forest. In total, 21 species in nine genera were collected; all species were collected in sugar and only two in salt. In addition to the ant richness eleven times greater in sugar, the composition differed between the attractions. Our results indicate that the litter ants in the preserved forest are not limited by availability of sodium and they prefer sugar to salt as attractant, even with this environment far from the coast.</jats:p

Dimeragrion species

Additions to the key to males of Dimeragrion species provided by De Marmels (1999) Modified to include D. baniwa as follows: 3(1). No accessory cross-vein besides CuP in cubito-anal space (Fig. 1d).............................................. 4 3’. At least one accessory cross-vein besides CuP in cubito-anal space. Male cerci with axe-shaped ventral-medial expansion truncated proximally................................................................................... 5 4(3). Male cerci with axe-shaped ventral-medial expansion prolonged proximal in a sharp angle. BP Tubercule well-developed.Apex of cerci acute in lateral view.................................................................. mesembrinum 4’. Male cerci with axe-shaped ventral-medial expansion straight forming a right angle (Fig. 2b). BP tubercule slightly developed (Fig. 2b, c). Apex of cerci rounded in lateral view (Fig. 2 a−c)............................................. baniwa 5(3). Male cerci shorter than segment 10, sharply tapering towards pointed tip, in lateral view; dorso-basal tubercle higher than hind margin of segment 10......................................................................... unturanense 5’. Male cerci longer than segment 10, not sharply tapering towards obtuse tip, in lateral view; dorso-basal tubercle not obviously higher than hind margin of segment 10............................................................ percubitalePublished as part of Mendoza-Penagos, Cristian Camilo, Kenzy, Myckey, Gonçalves, Silva & Vilela, Diogo Silva, 2023, A new species of Dimeragrion Calvert, 1913 (Odonata: Zygoptera: Heteragrionidae) from Northwestern Brazil, pp. 411-420 in Zootaxa 5318 (3) on page 419, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5318.3.6, http://zenodo.org/record/816699

Psaironeura jeronimoi (Odonata: Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae) sp. nov. From the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, with a key for species of tenuissima group, and discussion on the significance of the genital ligula to the taxonomy of the group

Psaironeura jeronimoi sp. nov. is described based on seven males (Holotype: ♂ (LABECO, N° 10002717), BRAZIL, Amazonas, Alto Maués Ecological Station, (-5.9852, -59.3182, 114 m asl, 12.v.2019) collected in the state of Amazonas (near Alto Maués Ecological Station) and Pará (municipality of Belterra). This new species fits into the tenuissima group but presents differences in color pattern and shape of the apex cerci. Main morphological characters are figured and compared with those of P. tenuissima (Selys, 1886) and P. bifurcata (Sjöstedt, 1918). Key to males and comments on genital ligula of the species of the group are provided. Finally, comments on the conservation status of the species are presented.Programa de Pós-graduação em Zoologia - PPGZOOL Universidade Federal do ParáLaboratorio de Ecología e Conservação - LABECO Universidade Federal do Pará Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Rua Augusto Correia, No. 1 Bairro Guamá, ParáDepartamento de Ambiente y Turismo Universidad Nacional de Avellaneda Universidad Nacional, Provincia de Buenos AiresLaboratório de Biologia Aquática Departamento de Ciências Biológicas Faculdade de Ciências e Letras de Assis Universidade Estadual Paulista, AssisLaboratório de Biologia Aquática Departamento de Ciências Biológicas Faculdade de Ciências e Letras de Assis Universidade Estadual Paulista, Assi