Comunidades de insetos sendo afetadas pela sinergia entre diversidade de espécies e facilitação da comunidade vegetal

Abstract

The intensification of habitat loss has led to a decline in the world's entomofauna. The diversity of plant species and the facilitation between plants can be fundamental for the sustainability of this entomofauna, because they influence the base of the food chain of these organisms. This influence occurs through an increase in primary productivity due to increased niche complementarity between plants and improved soil and climate conditions. However, studies on how the processes of diversity and facilitation affect forest ecosystems are still incipient, especially in tropical forests in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. In the Brazilian semi-arid region, the process of habitat destruction is intensifying and causing desertification. The reconstruction of these degraded habitats through ecological restoration is a fundamental process in mitigating the loss of habitat and biodiversity by replenishing vegetation that is diverse in terms of the number of species and morpho-functional characteristics that provide for the colonization of other trophic levels. This study aims to investigate how species diversity and the functional diversity of vegetation as well as facilitation processes are influencing the abundance, richness and functional diversity of insects in a Caatinga restoration experiment focused on the relationship between plant biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (BEF-BrazilDry). Using Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM), we observed that insect abundance was positively influenced by the interaction between the richness of planted trees and their facilitation capacity. The abundance, species richness and functional diversity of insects benefited from the height of the trees in the experimental communities studied, showing the importance of the availability of resources and nesting and foraging areas. Our results suggest that in addition to the species richness of the trees, the type of interactions they have is also important for the colonization of higher trophic levels. In order to encourage insect diversity, the restoration of dry forests should consider planting large saplings in addition to a high diversity of tree species with high facilitation potential.