Inventário de artropodofauna e sua aplicabilidade em Unidades de Conservação

Abstract

Faunal inventories sample the local fauna in a given sampling period, but there are gaps in several groups, especially arthropods. Conducting surveys of this group, which has a wide range of ecosystem activities, provides access to important information, especially for fragments of biodiverse and unprotected domains, such as the Cerrado conservation units. Only 13 protected areas in São Paulo that are classified within restricted categories have an inventory of arthropods, including the Assis Ecological Station. Its area adjoins the Assis State Forest and the under-sampling observed in the pre-existing inventory justifies the creation of a new inventory for both conservation units, which together represent the Horto Florestal. The data obtained from the inventory will be made available to the managers of the conservation units and is linked to two projects, indicating the broad purpose of arthropod inventories in the conservation and knowledge of the biodiversity of vulnerable areas. Sampling of the arthropod fauna took place during the rainy season over five days. Pitfall and malaise traps were used. The traps were distributed around the mastofauna traps of the project “Cerrado paulista: diversity, habitat use and the impact of woody encroachmenton non-flying small mammals”. Sampling was carried out in four habitat types . The specimens were identified to family level, and organized in a spreadsheetThe diversity was estimated though rarefaction-extrapolation curves and indexes using the “R” software, version 4.4.3. A total of 5981 arthropods from 193 families were collected. The difference in sampling between habitat types was analyzed by sample coverage curves. The habitat with the highest diversity varied according to the index used, as expected, but remained constant regarding forest habitats presenting high estimates. This result has been observed in other surveys, considering the habitat heterogeneity and its spatial representativeness in the Horto Florestal. The Cerrado sensu stricto,a savanna habitat, showed intermediate diversity results and a composition that was heavily influenced by the other two habitats due to its transitory nature. As a grassland representant, the “campo cerrado” showed the greatest dissimilarity compared with the forest habitats, emerging as the other extreme of the environmental gradient.s. Both the savanna and grassland habitats have their spatial representativeness compromised in the Horto Florestal, which may have a strong influence on the results observed and indicates that the representativeness of arthropods from open habitats may also have been compromised in the study area. Overcoming the scarcity of information about open habitats of the Cerrado is necessary, especially given the dilemma faced by Horto Florestal, which is under woody encroachment influence. In this sense, inventories help to obtain spatio-temporal data on diversity and make it possible to provide the theoretical framework needed to understand patterns of diversity and define strategies for managing and conserving biodiversity.