Biotemas, 27 (3): 197-200, setembro de 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-7925.2014v27n3p197197 ISSNe 2175-7925 Short Communication Dung beetle communities in coal mining areas in the process of recovery Joana Zamprônio Bett 1 Patrícia Menegaz de Farias 1,2* Pedro Giovâni da Silva 2 Malva Isabel Medina Hernández 2 1 Laboratório de Entomologia Centro de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico Amael Beethoven Villar Ferrim, Departamento de Agronomia Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina, CEP 88701-000, Tubarão – SC, Brasil 2 Laboratório de Ecologia Terrestre Animal, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia Departamento de Ecologia e Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina CEP 88040-900, Florianópolis – SC, Brasil * Autor para correspondência [email protected] Submetido em 04/03/2014 Aceito para publicação em 23/06/2014 Resumo Escarabeíneos em áreas de mineração de carvão em processo de recuperação. Besouros escarabeíneos sensíveis a modi¿caç}es ambientais podem apontar a recuperação de ireas degradadas. Este trabalKo obMetivou registrar e comparar as comunidades de Scarabaeinae em ireas com diferentes períodos de recuperação ambiental após serem usadas para mineração de carvão. 2 presente estudo foi reali]ado em duas ireas em recuperação um e cinco anos no município de Lauro 0ller, Santa Catarina, e contou com 1 armadilKas de Tueda iscadas com fe]es Kumanas em cada irea. Em laboratório reali]ou-se a contagem, identi¿cação e mensuração do tamanKo corporal e biomassa dos esppcimes capturados. Veri¿cou-se a su¿ciência amostral e as variiveis de ambas as ireas foram comparadas atravps de teste t. As esppcies registradas foram Canthon aff. chalybaeus, Canthon angularis, Canthon rutilans cyanescens, Deltochilum multicolor, Dichotomius sericeus, Eurysternus parallelus e Ontherus sulcator. 2 n~mero total de indivíduos capturados foi de , sendo três na irea de um ano em recuperação e 2 na de cinco anos a esppcie mais abundante foi C. rutilans cyanescens (40,6%). Todas as esppcies estiveram presentes na irea de cinco anos, mas somente C. aff. chalybaeus e D. multicolor na irea de um ano. 2 tamanKo mpdio dos indivíduos amostrados na irea de um ano de recuperação foi de 11,0 mm e a biomassa 0,01 g, enTuanto Tue na irea com cinco anos de recuperação o tamanKo mpdio e a biomassa dos besouros escarabeíneos amostrados foi de 12,25 mm e 0,093 g, respectivamente. Palavras-chave: Carvão mineral; Ecologia; Indicadores; Recuperação ambiental; Scarabaeinae Abstract Dung beetles tKat are sensitive to environmental alterations ma\ be used as indicator species to marN tKe recover\ of degraded areas. TKis ZorN aimed at registering and comparing tKe communities of Scarabaeinae located in areas ZitK different periods of environmental recover\ after being used for coal mining. TKis stud\ Revista Biotemas, 27 (3), setembro de 2014 198 J. Z. Bett et al. Zas developed in Lauro 0ller, Santa Catarina, and consisted of tZo areas in tKe process of recover\, one for one \ear and one for ¿ve \ears. Fifteen pitfall traps baited ZitK Kuman feces Zere placed in eacK area in order to attract tKe dung beetles. TKe counting, identi¿cation and measurement of bod\ si]e and biomass of tKe specimens captured Zere carried out in tKe laborator\. Sampling suf¿cienc\ Zas veri¿ed and variables from botK areas Zere compared using a t test. TKe recorded species Zere Canthon aff. chalybaeus, Canthon angularis, Canthon rutilans cyanescens, Deltochilum multicolor, Dichotomius sericeus, Eurysternus parallelus and Ontherus sulcator. A total of 35 individuals Zere captured, tKree in tKe one-\ear recover\ area and 32 in tKe area under recover\ for ¿ve \ears, C. rutilans cyanescens being tKe most abundant species (40.6%). All species collected Zere found in tKe ¿ve-\ears recover\ area, ZKereas onl\ C. aff. chalybaeus and D. multicolor Zere found in tKe one-\ear recover\ area. Individuals sampled in tKe area ZitK one \ear of recover\ Kad an average si]e of 11.03 mm and average biomass of 0.051 g, ZKereas in tKe ¿ve-\ears recover\ area tKe average si]e and tKe biomass of tKe dung beetles sampled Zas 12.25 mm and 0.093 g, respectivel\. Key words: Indicators; Ecolog\; Environmental recover\; 0ineral coal; Scarabaeinae TKe mining process is Zidel\ acNnoZledged as abundance, species ricKness and bod\ si]e (GARD1ER a source of environmental problems (SILVA, 2011), et al., 2008). as mining activities often result in tKe elimination TKis group performs several ecos\stem services of vegetation and tKe interruption of gene ÀoZ via (revieZed b\ 1IC+2LS et al., 2008), operating in fragmentation of Kabitats, causing deatK or e[tinction ecological processes sucK as increasing tKe rate of of fauna (0EC+I; SA1C+EZ, 2010). TKe process nutrient c\cling tKrougK tKe allocation of food resources, of induced environmental recover\ aims to accelerate tKe opening of galleries tKat facilitate Zater and air tKe reestablisKment of Kabitat b\ improving abiotic circulation in soil (0ITTAL, 1993), breaNing of tKe conditions in degraded areas in accordance ZitK future life c\cle of some parasites of vertebrates (RIDSDILL- use (PEREIRA; R2DRIGUES, 2012). TopograpKic and S0IT+; +A<LES, 1990), and tKe secondar\ dispersion landscape re-composition, as Zell as soil reconstruction of seeds, ZKicK ma\ influence forest regeneration are actions tKat seeN to maNe tKe environment favorable (ANDRESEN, 2002). for tKe development of animal and plant species (C2STA; Z2CC+E, 2009). TKe presence of indicator organisms Studies tKat anal\]e dung beetle communities in during tKe recover\ process ma\ Kelp tKe monitoring areas recovering from coal mining practices sKoZ tKat process b\ elucidating mecKanisms of environmental older recovered areas alloZ greater species presence, re-composition (CA0P2S et al., 2012). SucK organisms ZKicK contributes to tKe increase of ecos\stem Kave life Kistor\ traits intrinsicall\ related to tKeir Kabitat services (+ERNÈNDEZ et al., unpublisKed data). As a in sucK a Za\ tKat an\ alteration can inÀuence population contribution to tKe monitoring of environmental Tualit\ d\namics (PA2LETTI, 1999). SucK species are regarded in altered landscapes, tKis ZorN focused on registering as indicators of environmental Tualit\, for tKe\ reÀect and comparing tKe communities of Scarabaeinae located tKe ecological integrit\ of tKe ecos\stems and tKus ma\ in areas ZitK different periods of environmental recover\ be used as a pro[\ to measure tKe degradation levels of after being used for coal mining. sites in recover\ (LUTI1S.I; GARCIA, 2005). TKe stud\ Zas carried out in Lauro 0ller, Santa Dung beetles (Coleoptera Scarabaeidae Catarina, Bra]il betZeen -anuar\ and Februar\ 2013, Scarabaeinae) Zere indicated b\ +alffter and Favila a period of great dung beetle abundance in subtropical (1993) as important bioindicators because tKe\ respond regions (HERNÁNDEZ; VAZ-DE-MELLO, 2009; to environmental variation. It is freTuentl\ observed SILVA et al., 2013). TKe annual relative Kumidit\ of tKat tKe most diverse communities ZitK species of tKe stud\ region varies betZeen 80% and 85%, and tKe greater bod\ si]e are located in preserved forest areas, average annual rainfall is betZeen 1,400 and 1,600 mm. and tKat degraded areas sKoZ a decrease in dung beetle TKe average annual temperature is betZeen 16C and Revista Biotemas, 27 (3), setembro de 2014 Dung beetles in coal mining areas 199 18 C. TKe predominant climate is Kumid mesotKermal D. multicolor (n 1). TKe species sampled are common ZitK Kot Zinter (Cfa) (EPAGRICIRAM, 2010). in areas of Atlantic Forest in Santa Catarina (CAMPOS; HERNÁNDEZ, 2013). TZo areas ZitK different periods of recover\ from mining Zere sampled tKe ¿rst one (2819¶S, 4926¶:) Sampling sufficienc\ Zas corroborated b\ tKe ZitK an area of 0.032 Nm2, Kas been in recover\ for CKao 1 estimator, ZKicK estimated 100% of tKe ricKness rougKl\ one \ear and is cKaracteri]ed as implanted observed in tKe area of ¿ve \ears (7 0.25) and in pasture ZitK fragments of secondar\ forest. It is delimited tKe area of one \ear (2 0.17). T-test sKoZed tKat tKe east b\ a road, and is surrounded b\ farms ZitK native ¿ve-\ear recover\ area sKoZed greater average species pasture used for e[tensive cattle breeding in tKe nortK, ricKness per trap (1.6 0.38) tKan did tKe one-\ear area soutK and Zest. TKe second area (2822¶S, 4927¶:), (0.2 0.01) (t 1.97; df 1; p 0.034), a result in ZitK an area of 0.021 Nm2, Kas been in recover\ for ¿ve agreement ZitK Davis et al. (2003) and Herninde] et \ears and is covered b\ implanted pasture. It is delimited al. (unpublisKed data), botK of ZKicK indicate KigKer nortK and Zest b\ a long area of preserved forest; in species ricKness in areas alloZed to recover from mining tKe soutK, a reforested area ZitK eucal\ptus; and in tKe for longer time periods. HoZever, Audino et al. (2014) east, a native pasture used for cattle breeding. Fifteen empKasi]e tKat dung beetle assemblages are severel\ baited pitfall traps eacK 50 m apart Zere placed in eacK impoverisKed in restored sites, and tKat even after 18 area. Traps contained Zater ZitK a neutral detergent to \ears tKe communities remain poor in species ricKness. breaN tKe surface tension and prevent tKe insects from Environmental structure is an important aspect escaping. TKe rain sKields of traps Zere baited ZitK of tKe organi]ation of dung beetle communities Kuman feces (20 g) to attract tKe individuals; tKis is one (HERNÁNDEZ; VAZ-DE-MELLO, 2009; CAMPOS; tKe most emplo\ed and ef¿cient metKods for tKe capture HERNÁNDEZ, 2013). HoZever, a confounding factor of tKe maMorit\ of tKe species in tKis group (LOBO et in tKe e[planation for tKe increase in ricKness is tKe al., 1988). Traps remained in tKe ¿eld for 48 Kours, after pro[imit\ to areas ZitK more preserved Kabitats, ZKicK ZKicK captured insects Zere collected and transferred ma\ act as a source area or species pool.