Iheringia, Série Zoologia, 107: E2017033 1
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Iheringia Série Zoologia Museu de Ciências Naturais e-ISSN 1678-4766 www.scielo.br/isz Fundação Zoobotânica do Rio Grande do Sul Short-term spider community monitoring after cattle removal in grazed grassland Guilherme O. da Silva1,2 & Ricardo Ott1 1. Seção de Zoologia de Invertebrados, Museu de Ciências Naturais, Fundação Zoobotânica do Rio Grande do Sul. Rua Dr Salvador França, 1427, 90690-000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. ([email protected]) 2. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Av. Bento Gonçalves, 9500, 91509-900 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. Received 3 January 2017 Accepted 21 June 2017 DOI: 10.1590/1678-4766e2017033 ABSTRACT. At the Pampa Biome, grazing, like others disturbances, aff ects fauna and fl ora, creating heterogeneity in the environment. Little is known about how the diversity and richness of arthropods change during this impact. To improve the knowledge of how spider diversity is aff ected by grazing, experiments were realized at Pampa. The hypothesis is that abundance of spider will be diff erent when comparing grazed and ungrazed areas. A paired block, with two areas of one hectare each, was established in three areas in the Environmental Protection Area of Ibirapuitã (APA Ibirapuitã), state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. One of these hectares was closed with fences, excluding the catle grazing, in August of 2012. Samplings were realized in November of 2011, 2012 and 2013 using Pitfall traps fi lled with formol 4% and disposed in an “X” format in each area. For statistical analyses, T test, ANOSIM, ANOVA and Rarefaction were performed. A total of 1,315 spiders were captured, comprising 77 species or morphospecies belonging to 20 families. The family most abundant was Lycosidae followed by Hahniidae, Linyphiidae and Theridiidae. Linyphiidae was the richest family with 14 species or morphospecies identifi ed. All spiders, adults and juveniles, only adults in species and morphospecies, and most abundant species were used as models for statistics. These models revealed no signifi cant diff erence between grazed and ungrazed areas after three and 15 months of cattle exclusion. KEYWORDS. Neotropical, Pampa, diversity, Araneae. RESUMO. Monitoramento de curto prazo da comunidade de aranhas após a remoção do gado em campos pastejados. No Pampa, o pastejo, como outros distúrbios, afeta a fauna e a fl ora, proporcionando uma maior heterogeneidade no ambiente. Pouco se sabe como a diversidade e a riqueza de artrópodes muda durante este impacto. Para aprimorar o conhecimento de como a diversidade de aranhas é afetada pelo pastejo, experimentos foram realizados no Pampa. A hipótese é que a abundância de aranhas será diferente quando áreas pastejadas e sem pastejo são comparadas. Um bloco de duas parcelas, cada uma com um hectare, foi estabelecido em três fazendas na APA (Área de Proteção Ambiental) do Ibirapuitã, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Um destes hectares foi fechado com cercas, excluindo o pastejo do gado, em agosto de 2012. As amostragens foram realizadas em novembro de 2011, 2012 e 2013 usando armadilhas de queda preenchidas com formol 4% e dispostas em formato de “X” em cada hectare. Foram utilizados para análise estatística Teste T, ANOSIM, ANOVA e Rarefação. Um total de 1.315 aranhas foi amostrado, compreendendo 77 espécies ou morfoespécies de 20 familias. A família mais abundante foi Lycosidae, seguida de Hahniidae, Linyphiidae e Theridiidae. Linyphiidae foi a família mais rica, com 14 espécies ou morfoespécies identifi cadas. A soma das abundâncias de aranhas jovens e adultas, a abundância de apenas aranhas adultas e a abundância total somente das espécies mais abundantes foram utilizadas como modelos estatísticos. Estes modelos não revelaram diferença signifi cativa entre áreas com e sem pastejo mesmo após três ou 15 meses de exclusão do gado. PALAVRAS-CHAVE. Neotropical, Pampa, diversidade, Araneae. The Pampa is a Neotropical region biome localized in Silva, 2009). In general it is not exactly know how the Pampa meridional South America, including south Brazil, Uruguay was before more than some 300 years ago, when disturbance and part of Argentina, covering 750,000 km2 (Vélez et increases dramatically after the European colonization due al., 2009; Andrade et al., 2015) (Fig. 1). It is composed cattle introduction, uncontrolled fi re management, farming originally by areas with grasslands and meadows (Behling and silvicultural activities (Suertegaray & Silva, 2009; et al., 2009) and according to Köppen-Geiger classifi cation, Rodrigues et al., 2010; Podgaiski et al., 2014; Ferrando et the climate is considered as “Cfa” (humid temperate with al., 2016). Considering theses disturbances, many components hot summers; Kottek et al., 2006). In conformity to of the biota, as also the invertebrate fauna, should be directly Suertegaray & Silva (2009), the Pampa is located in the aff ected. However, these fauna and its level of endemism are Southern Temperate Zone with four well-characterized poorly known for this region (Lewinsohn, 2006), and the seasons and has a maximum altitude of 200 m. enhancement of studies on biodiversity and biogeography The human presence in this region began around of insects, arachnids, crustaceans as for other invertebrates 10,000 (BP) with pre-Columbian cultures (Suertegaray & groups are still necessary (Bencke, 2009). Iheringia, Série Zoologia, 107: e2017033 1 Diagramação e XML SciELO Publishing Schema: www.editoraletra1.com.br Short-term spider community monitoring after cattle removal ... SILVA & OTT Spiders are the second richest group of Arachnida, Rodriguez-Artigas et al., 2016). Moreover, spider are still counting with more than 46,000 valid species distributed in capable of consume high biomass rate (Nyfeller, 2000; 4,059 genera and 112 families (World Spider Catalog, Ott, 2016), are generalist predators in different trophic 2017). The official number of spiders for Brazil is unknown but levels, even eating other spiders (Wise, 2006) and occupying they could easily reach more than 4,000 species (Brescovit, nearly all terrestrial territories (Foelix, 2011), making up 1999; Brescovit et al., 2011). For Rio Grande do Sul state, great ecological models (Craig et al., 2001; Foelix, 2011). spider richness reach 808 species (Buckup et al., 2010). In Their resilience in rapidly reoccupy impacted environmental terms of grasslands, richness and abundance of spider vary. For (Podgaiski et al., 2013), would be a great model for testing African grassland, Ammoxenidae, Lycosidae and Salticidae the absence of cattle graze impact. seems to be the most abundant (Jansen et al., 2013; Haddad The objective of this work is to present a list of et al., 2015; Foord et al., 2016) as Gnaphosidae, Salticidae families, species or morphoespecies of ground dwelling spider and Thomisidae were the richest (Foord et al., 2011; Haddad of Pampa biome. Moreover, to compare the areneofauna in et al., 2015; Foord & Dippenaar-Schoeman, 2016) in most areas with and without cattle graze after three and 15 months recent studies. For South American grasslands Linyphiidae, of total exclusion of this impact at Pampa. The hypothesis is Lycosidae and Salticidae seems to be the most abundant and that abundance of spiders will be different when comparing richest families (Rodrigues et al., 2010; Pompozzi et al., grazed and ungrazed areas. 2011; Podgaiski et al., 2013; Cunha et al., 2015; Zanetti, 2016). However, spider diversity is still poorly known at MATERIAL AND METHODS Pampa (Oliveira et al., 2017). Spiders have their diversity dependent of many factors Study site. The experiments were carried out at (Foelix, 2011): vegetal structure (Baldissera et al., 2004; Ibirapuitã River Environmental Protection Area “Área de Nogueira & Pinto-da-Rocha, 2016), capacity of dispersal Proteção Ambiental – APA do Ibirapuitã” located at Western and settlement (Rodrigues et al., 2009; Lin et al., 2016) Pampas Areas of Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil (Fig. 1). Six being distance insignificant (Horváth et al., 2009), prey plots of one hectare each, located at three different farms in the availability and competitive exclusion (Dennis et al., 2015; municipality of Sant’Ana do Livramento and georeferenced Fig. 1. Extension of the Pampa Biome at Neotropical region. Red triangle indicates APA Ibirapuitã’s localization, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Map from Andrade et al., 2015. Iheringia, Série Zoologia, 107: e2017033 2 Diagramação e XML SciELO Publishing Schema: www.editoraletra1.com.br Short-term spider community monitoring after cattle removal ... SILVA & OTT at 30°28’50.57”S, 55°33’10.21”W (“Estância do Açude”; to compare differences in abundance between grazed and Farm 1), 30°28’54.97”S, 55°34’14.05”W (“Fazenda Rincão ungrazed areas using as models all spiders, only adults in dos Moraes”; Farm 2) and 30°25’54.78”S, 55°38’39.75”W species/morphospecies and the most abundant species. Three (“Fazenda Bela Vista”; Farm 3) were selected for the categories of tests were applied with these models: (i) sum sampling. In each farm a block of two plots placed close to of 2012 and 2013 abundance; (ii) only 2012 abundance to 200 m far from each other were established, being one of test three months of enclosure in ungrazed areas; and (iii) them closed with fences in August of 2012, excluding totally only 2013 abundance to test 15 months of enclosure in the cattle grazing access; the second plot was defined only ungrazed areas. Analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) was by poles placed at its corners and the cattle was allowed to performed based in Morisita, Bray-Curtis and Jaccard free grazing access in the area. Closed plots without grazing measures. Abundance of families in 2013, all spiders, were defined herein as ungrazed areas (T1, T2 and T3) and only adults in species/morphospecies and most abundant plots with free cattle grazing access were defined as grazed species were used as models to test difference between pitfall areas (C1, C2 and C3).