Browsing by Author "Serrano, Artur R. M."
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- The biodiversity of terrestrial arthropods in Madeira and Selvagens archipelagosPublication . Boieiro, Mário; Aguiar, António F.; Rego, Carla; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Serrano, Artur R. M.[…]. El número de taxones de artrópodos terrestres citado de los archipiélagos de Madeira y Salvajes es respectivamente 3.801 y 201, entre los que hay un número significativo de endemismos (Borges et al., 2008b) (ver Tabla I; Fig. 5; Lámina II). Madeira, la isla más grande, con una orografía compleja y con el número mayor de diferentes tipos de hábitat, destaca claramente sobre las otras islas de los dos archipiélagos tanto en la riqueza de especies como en el número de taxones endémicos. Sin embargo, también se debe tener en cuenta que la biodiversidad de Madeira se ha estudiado más en detalle, ya que esta isla ha sido el objetivo de varias expediciones de historia natural y muchas visitas de taxónomos expertos de todo el mundo (ver la sección anterior). […].
- Biodiversity patterns of cavernicolous ground-beetles and their conservation status in the Azores, with the description of a new species: Trechus isabelae n. sp (Coleoptera : Carabidae : Trechinae)Publication . Borges, Paulo A. V.; Oromí, Pedro; Serrano, Artur R. M.; Amorim, Isabel R.; Pereira, Fernando E. A.Diversity patterns of cave and epigean Trechinae (Coleoptera, Carabidae) from the Azores (Portugal) are reported based on recently standardized sampling protocols in different habitats of this geologically young and isolated volcanic archipelago. A total of 10 species are studied, including Trechus isabelae n. sp., collected in a volcanic pit on São Jorge, one of the nine islands of the Azores. This new Trechus species represents the eighth species of Trechinae described from the underground environment of the Azores. An identification key for the Azorean species of Trechus is provided along with additional information per species on their distribution and conservation status in the archipelago. Possible reasons for the different degrees of adaptation to the conditions of the underground environment exhibited by Trechinae are also discussed.
- Canopy insect herbivores in the Azorean Laurisilva forests: key host plant species in a highly generalist insect communityPublication . Ribeiro, Sérvio P.; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Gaspar, Clara; Melo, Catarina; Serrano, Artur R. M.; Amaral, João; Aguiar, Carlos; André, Genage; Quartau, José A.This article explores patterns of insect herbivore distribution in the canopy of the Laurisilva forests on seven islands in the Azores archipelago. To our knowledge, this is one of the first extensive studied of this type in tree or shrub canopies of oceanic island ecosystems. One of the most frequently debated characteristics of such ecosystems is the likely prevalence of vague, ill-defined niches due to taxonomic disharmony, which may have implications for insect-plant interactions. For instance, an increase in ecological opportunities for generalist species is expected due to the lack of predator groups and reduced selection for chemical defence in host plants. The following two questions were addressed: 1) Are specialists rare species, and insect herbivore species randomly distributed among host plant species in the Azores? 2) Are the variances in insect herbivore species composition, frequency and richness explained by host plants or by regional island effects? We expect a proportional distribution of herbivore species between host plants, influenced by host frequency and distinct island effects; otherwise, deviation from expectation might suggest habitat preference for specific host tree crowns. Canopy beating tray samples were performed on seven islands, comprising 50 transects with 1 to 3 plant species each (10 replicates per species), giving 1320 samples from ten host species trees or shrubs in total. From a total of 129 insect herbivore species, a greater number of herbivore species was found on Juniperus brevifolia (s=65) and Erica azorica (s=53). However, the number of herbivore species per individual tree crown was higher for E. azorica than for any other host, on all islands, despite the fact that it was only the fourth more abundant plant. In addition, higher insect species richness and greater insect abundance were found on the trees of Santa Maria Island, the oldest in the archipelago. Insect species composition was strongly influenced by the presence of E. azorica, which was the only host plant with a characteristic fauna across the archipelago, whereas the fauna of other plant crowns was grouped by islands. The great insect occurrence on E. azorica reflects strong habitat fidelity, but only four species were clearly specialists. Our findings indicate a broadly generalist fauna. The simplicity of Azorean Laurisilva contributed to the understanding of insect-plant mechanisms in canopy forest habitats.
- Coleoptera (Coordination)Publication . Oromí, Pedro; Serrano, Artur R. M.; Borges, Paulo A. V.
- Coleoptera: Coccinellidae (col. Fauna Iberica, vol. 40), by Santos Eizaguirre. Hardback. Madrid: Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 2015, 514 pp.Publication . Serrano, Artur R. M.While this volume is written in Spanish, except the scientific names which are in Latin, I believe that biodiversity is also “language” (see Pimm 2000). Most representatives of the Coleoptera family to which this work of the “Fauna Ibérica” Series devotes its attention are commonly known by the Portuguese public as “joaninhas” and in Anglo-Saxon culture as “ladybugs” or “ladybirds”. As the author of this work says, this group of beetles is one of the few exceptions in terms of the sympathy that the people in general have for insects. […].
- Conservation status of the forest beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera) from Azores, PortugalPublication . Borges, Paulo A. V.; Lamelas López, Lucas; Amorim, Isabel R.; Danielczak, Anja; Nunes, Rui; Serrano, Artur R. M.; Boieiro, Mário; Rego, Carla; Hochkirch, Axel; Vieira, VirgílioBACKGROUND: Island biodiversity is under considerable pressure due to the ongoing threats of invasive alien species, land use change or climate change. The few remnants of Azorean native forests harbour a unique set of endemic beetles, some of them possibly already extinct or under severe long term threat due to the small areas of the remaining habitats or climatic changes. In this contribution we present the IUCN Red List profiles of 54 forest adapted beetle species endemic to the Azorean archipelago, including species belonging to four speciose families: Zopheridae (12 species), Carabidae (11 species), Curculionidae (11 species) and Staphylinidae (10 species). NEW INFORMATION: Most species have a restricted distribution (i.e. 66% occur in only one island) and a very small extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO). Also common to most of the species is the severe fragmentation of their populations, and a continuing decline in EOO, AOO, habitat quality, number of locations and subpopulations caused by the ongoing threat from pasture intensification, forestry, invasive species and future climatic changes. Therefore, we suggest as future measures of conservation: (1) a long-term monitoring plan for the species; (2) control of invasive species; (3) species-specific conservation action for the most highly threatened species.
- Cryptic diversity in Azorean beetle genus Tarphius Erichson, 1845 (Coleoptera: Zopheridae) : An integrative taxonomic approach with description of four new speciesPublication . Borges, Paulo A. V.; Amorim, Isabel R.; Terzopoulou, Sofia; Rigal, François; Emerson, Brent C.; Serrano, Artur R. M.Recent findings based on molecular data support the occurrence in the Azores of several independently evolving lineages of the beetle genus Tarphius Erichson, 1845 (Coleoptera: Zopheridae Solier, 1834) and higher species richness masked by cryptic diversity, needing formal taxonomic description. All Tarphius from the Azores are revised using an integrative taxonomic approach, using evidence from morphology, morphometrics and molecular data to delimit species. Our results reveal that Azorean Tarphius comprise at least five phyletic lineages, two of which share a similar morphology, despite being divergent at the molecular level. A total of four new species are described grouped into two complexes: i) two new species in the “complex tornvalli” with the new taxa Tarphius relictus sp. nov. (Terceira) and Tarphius furtadoi sp. nov. (São BORGES ET AL. 402 · Zootaxa 4236 (3) © 2017 Magnolia Press Jorge, Faial and Pico) and; ii) two new species in the “complex azoricus-wollastoni-depressus” with the new taxa Tarphius gabrielae sp. nov. (Pico) and Tarphius floresensis sp. nov. (Flores). Descriptions, photographs of holotypes and morphological details, and remarks on diagnostic features comparing similar species are presented. Additional information on the distribution and conservation status of the 12 described species in the archipelago is also provided.
- Drivers of Insect Community Change along the Margins of Mountain Streams in Serra da Estrela Natural Park (Portugal)Publication . Ceia-Hasse, Ana; Boieiro, Mário; Soares, Albano; Antunes, Sandra; Figueiredo, Hugo; Rego, Carla; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Conde, José; Serrano, Artur R. M.Mountain ecosystems are important biodiversity hotspots and valuable natural laboratories to study community assembly processes. Here, we analyze the diversity patterns of butterflies and odonates in a mountainous area of high conservation value—Serra da Estrela Natural Park (Portugal)—and we assess the drivers of community change for each of the two insect groups. The butterflies and odonates were sampled along 150 m transects near the margins of three mountain streams, at three elevation levels (500, 1000, and 1500 m). We found no significant differences in odonate species richness between elevations, but marginal differences (p = 0.058) were found for butterflies due to the lower number of species at high altitudes. Both insect groups showed significant differences in beta diversity (βtotal) between elevations, with species richness differences being the most important component for odonates (βrich = 55.2%), while species replacement drove the changes between butterfly assemblages (βrepl = 60.3%). Climatic factors, particularly those depicting harsher conditions of temperature and precipitation, were the best predictors of total beta diversity (βtotal) and its components (βrich, βrepl) for the two study groups. The study of insect biodiversity patterns in mountain ecosystems and of the role played by different predictors contribute to further our understanding on the community assembly processes and may help to better predict environmental change impacts on mountain biodiversity.
- Extinction debt on oceanic islandsPublication . Triantis, Kostas A.; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Ladle, Richard J.; Hortal, Joaquín; Cardoso, Pedro; Gaspar, Clara; Dinis, Francisco; Pereira, Enésima; Silveira, Lúcia M. A.; Gabriel, Rosalina; Melo, Catarina; Santos, Ana M. C.; Amorim, Isabel R.; Ribeiro, Sérvio P.; Serrano, Artur R. M.; Quartau, José A.; Whittaker, Robert J.Habitat destruction is the leading cause of species extinctions. However, there is typically a time-lag between the reduction in habitat area and the eventual disappearance of the remnant populations. These “surviving but ultimately doomed” species represent an extinction debt. Calculating the magnitude of such future extinction events has been hampered by potentially inaccurate assumptions about the slope of species–area relationships, which are habitat- and taxon-specific. We overcome this challenge by applying a method that uses the historical sequence of deforestation in the Azorean Islands, to calculate realistic and ecologically-adjusted species–area relationships. The results reveal dramatic and hitherto unrecognized levels of extinction debt, as a result of the extensive destruction of the native forest:>95%, in<600 yr. Our estimations suggest that more than half of the extant forest arthropod species, which have evolved in and are dependent on the native forest, might eventually be driven to extinction. Data on species abundances from Graciosa Island, where only a very small patch of secondary native vegetation still exists, as well as the number of species that have not been found in the last 45 yr, despite the extensive sampling effort, offer support to the predictions made. We argue that immediate action to restore and expand native forest habitat is required to avert the loss of numerous endemic species in the near future.
- A further contribution to the knowledge of the Coleoptera (Insecta) from the AzoresPublication . Serrano, Artur R. M.; Borges, Paulo A. V.Os autores apresentam neste trabalho uma lista de 86 espécies de Coleópteros do arquipélago dos Açores. Desta lista, 15 espécies são citadas pela primeira vez para este arquipélago sendo 7 igualmente novas para a Macaronésia. São ainda referenciadas várias espécies pela primeira vez para as ilhas Santa Maria (16), S. Miguel (3). Terceira (75), S. Jorge (1), Graciosa (2) e Corvo (2).