García-Martínez Miguel Á, Valenzuela-González Jorge E, Escobar-Sarria Federico, López-Barrera Fabiola, Castaño-Meneses Gabriela
Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Xalapa, Veracruz, México.
Ecología de Artrópodos en Ambientes Extremos, Unidad Multidisciplinaria de Docencia e Investigación, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Campus Juriquilla, Querétaro, México.
PLoS One. 2017 Feb 24;12(2):e0172464. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172464. eCollection 2017.
Riparian vegetation is a distinctive and ecologically important element of landscapes worldwide. However, the relative influence of the surrounding landscape on the conservation of the biodiversity of riparian remnants in human-modified tropical landscapes is poorly understood. We studied the surrounding landscape to evaluate its influence on leaf-litter-ant alpha and beta diversity in riparian remnants in the tropical montane cloud forest region of central Veracruz, Mexico. Sampling was carried out in 12 sites with riparian vegetation during both rainy (2011) and dry (2012) seasons. Ten leaf-litter samples were collected along a 100-m transect per site and processed with Berlese-Tullgren funnels and Winkler sacks. Using remotely-sensed and ground-collected data, we characterized the landscape around each site according to nine land cover types and computed metrics of landscape composition and configuration. We collected a total of 8,684 ant individuals belonging to 53 species, 22 genera, 11 tribes, and 7 subfamilies. Species richness and the diversity of Shannon and Simpson increased significantly in remnants immersed in landscapes with a high percentage of riparian land cover and a low percentage of land covers with areas reforested with Pinus, cattle pastures, and human settlements and infrastructure. The composition of ant assemblages was a function of the percentage of riparian land cover in the landscape. This study found evidence that leaf-litter ants, a highly specialized guild of arthropods, are mainly impacted by landscape composition and the configuration of the focal remnant. Maintaining or improving the surrounding landscape quality of riparian vegetation remnants can stimulate the movement of biodiversity among forest and riparian remnants and foster the provision of ecosystem services by these ecosystems. Effective outcomes may be achieved by considering scientific knowledge during the early stages of riparian policy formulation, in addition to integrating riparian management strategies with broader environmental planning instruments.
河岸植被是全球景观中一个独特且具有重要生态意义的元素。然而，在人类改造的热带景观中，周边景观对河岸残余地生物多样性保护的相对影响却鲜为人知。我们研究了墨西哥韦拉克鲁斯中部热带山地云雾森林地区河岸残余地周边的景观，以评估其对落叶层蚂蚁的α多样性和β多样性的影响。在雨季（2011年）和旱季（2012年）期间，在12个有河岸植被的地点进行了采样。每个地点沿着100米的样带收集了10个落叶层样本，并使用贝氏漏斗和温克勒袋进行处理。利用遥感和地面收集的数据，我们根据九种土地覆盖类型对每个地点周围的景观进行了特征描述，并计算了景观组成和格局的指标。我们总共收集了8684只蚂蚁个体，分属于53个物种、22个属、11个族和7个亚科。在被河岸土地覆盖比例高、松树重新造林区域、牧场和人类住区及基础设施覆盖比例低的景观所包围的残余地中，物种丰富度以及香农多样性和辛普森多样性显著增加。蚂蚁群落的组成是景观中河岸土地覆盖比例的函数。这项研究发现，落叶层蚂蚁作为一个高度专业化的节肢动物类群，主要受到景观组成和焦点残余地格局的影响。维持或改善河岸植被残余地周边的景观质量，可以促进生物多样性在森林和河岸残余地之间的流动，并促进这些生态系统提供生态系统服务。除了将河岸管理策略与更广泛的环境规划工具相结合外，在河岸政策制定的早期阶段考虑科学知识，可能会取得有效的成果。
