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- SLAM Project : Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the natural forest of Azores: I - the spiders from native forests of Terceira and Pico Islands (2012-2019)Publication . Costa, Ricardo; Borges, Paulo A. V.BACKGROUND: Long-term monitoring of invertebrate communities is needed to understand the impact of key biodiversity erosion drivers (e.g. habitat fragmentation and degradation, invasive species, pollution, climatic changes) on the biodiversity of these high diverse organisms. The data we present are part of the long-term project SLAM (Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the natural forest of Azores) that started in 2012, aiming to understand the impact of biodiversity erosion drivers on Azorean native forests (Azores, Macaronesia, Portugal). In this contribution, the design of the project, its objectives and the first available data for the spider fauna of two Islands (Pico and Terceira) are described. Passive flight interception SLAM traps (Sea, Land and Air Malaise traps) were used to sample native forest plots in several Azorean islands, with one trap being set up at each plot and samples taken every three months following the seasons. The key objectives of the SLAM project are: 1) collect long-term ecological data to evaluate species distributions and abundance at multiple spatial and temporal scales, responding to the Wallacean and Prestonian shortfalls, 2) identify biodiversity erosion drivers impacting oceanic indigenous assemblages under global change for conservation management purpose, 3) use species distribution and abundance data in model-based studies of environmental change in different islands, 4) contribute to clarifying the potential occurrence of an "insect decline" in Azores and identifying the spatial and temporal invasion patterns of exotic arthropod species, 5) contribute with temporal data to re-assess the Red-list status of Azorean endemic arthropods and 6) perform studies about the relationship between diversity (taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic) and ecosystem function. NEW INFORMATION: The project SLAM (Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the natural forest of Azores) is described in detail. Seasonal distribution and abundance data of Azorean spiders, based on a long-term study undertaken between 2012 and 2019 in two Azorean Islands (Terceira and Pico), is presented. A total of 14979 specimens were collected, of which 6430 (43%) were adults. Despite the uncertainty of juvenile identification, juveniles are also included in the data presented in this paper, since the low diversity allows a relatively precise identification of this life-stage in Azores. A total of 57 species, belonging to 50 genera and 17 families, were recorded from the area, which constitutes baseline information of spiders from the studied sites for future long-term comparisons. Linyphiidae were the richest and most abundant family, with 19 (33%) species and 5973 (40%) specimens. The ten most abundant species are composed mostly of endemic or native non-endemic species and only one exotic species (Tenuiphantes tenuis (Blackwall, 1852)). Those ten most abundant species include 84% of all sampled specimens and are clearly the dominant species in the Azorean native forests. Textrix caudata L. Koch, 1872 was firstly reported from Terceira and Pico Islands, Araneus angulatus Clerck, 1757 was firstly reported from Terceira Island, Neriene clathrata (Sundevall, 1830) and Macaroeris diligens (Blackwall, 1867) were firstly reported from Pico Island. This publication contributes not only to a better knowledge of the arachnofauna present in native forests of Terceira and Pico, but also to understand the patterns of abundance and diversity of spider species, both seasonally and between years.
- Foraging Behavior and Pollen Transport by Flower Visitors of the Madeira Island Endemic Echium candicansPublication . Esposito, Fabiana; Costa, Ricardo; Boieiro, MárioThe study of flower visitor behavior and pollen transport dynamics within and between plants can be of great importance, especially for threatened or rare plant species. In this work, we aim to assess the flower visitor assemblage of the Madeiran endemic Echium candicans and evaluate the performance of the most common visitors through the analysis of their foraging behavior and pollen loads. The flower visitor assemblage of E. candicans is diverse, including several insect groups and the endemic lizard Teira dugesii, but bees are the most common visitors. In general, large bees (Amegilla quadrifasciata, Apis mellifera, and Bombus spp.) had the highest average visitation rates (>18 flowers/min) and their pollen loads had higher percentages of homospecific pollen (>66%) when compared with butterflies and hoverflies. The honeybee (Apis mellifera) and two bumblebees (Bombus terrestris and B. ruderatus) were the most efficient flower visitors of E. candicans, but their foraging behavior seems to favor geitonogamy. Other visitors, such as butterflies and the small bee Lasioglossum wollastoni, may have a complementary role to the honeybee and bumblebee species, as their high mobility is associated with fewer flower visits on each plant and may promote xenogamy. Two non-native bees (A. mellifera and B. ruderatus) are important flower visitors of E. candicans and may contribute mostly to self-pollination rendering the endemic plant more vulnerable to inbreeding effects.
- SLAM Project - Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the natural forests of Azores: V - New records of terrestrial arthropods after ten years of SLAM samplingPublication . Lhoumeau, Sébastien; Cardoso, Pedro; Boieiro, Mário; Ros-Prieto, Alejandra; Costa, Ricardo; Lamelas-López, Lucas; Leite, Abrão; Rosário, Isabel Amorim do; Gabriel, Rosalina; Malumbres-Olarte, Jagoba; Rigal, François; Santos, Ana M. C.; Tsafack, Noelline; Ferreira, Maria Teresa; Borges, Paulo A. V.BACKGROUND: A long-term study monitoring arthropods (Arthropoda) is being conducted since 2012 in the forests of Azorean Islands. Named "SLAM - Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the natural forest of Azores", this project aims to understand the impact of biodiversity erosion drivers in the distribution, abundance and diversity of Azorean arthropods. The current dataset represents arthropods that have been recorded using a total of 42 passive SLAM traps (Sea, Land and Air Malaise) deployed in native, mixed and exotic forest fragments in seven Azorean Islands (Flores, Faial, Pico, Graciosa, Terceira, São Miguel and Santa Maria). This manuscript is the fifth data-paper contribution, based on data from this long-term monitoring project. NEW INFORMATION: We targeted taxa for species identification belonging to Arachnida (excluding Acari), Chilopoda, Diplopoda, Hexapoda (excluding Collembola, Lepidoptera, Diptera and Hymenoptera (but including only Formicidae)). Specimens were sampled over seven Azorean Islands during the 2012-2021 period. Spiders (Araneae) data from Pico and Terceira Islands are not included since they have been already published elsewhere (Costa and Borges 2021, Lhoumeau et al. 2022). We collected a total of 176007 specimens, of which 168565 (95.7%) were identified to the species or subspecies level. For Araneae and some Hemiptera species, juveniles are also included in this paper, since the low diversity in the Azores allows a relatively precise species-level identification of this life-stage. We recorded a total of 316 named species and subspecies, belonging to 25 orders, 106 families and 260 genera. The ten most abundant species were mostly endemic or native non-endemic (one Opiliones, one Archaeognatha and seven Hemiptera) and only one exotic species, the Julida Ommatoiulus moreleti (Lucas, 1860). These ten species represent 107330 individuals (60%) of all sampled specimens and can be considered as the dominant species in the Azorean native forests for the target studied taxa. The Hemiptera were the most abundant taxa, with 90127 (50.4%) specimens. The Coleoptera were the most diverse with 30 (28.6%) families. We registered 72 new records for many of the islands (two for Flores, eight for Faial, 24 for Graciosa, 23 for Pico, eight for Terceira, three for São Miguel and four for Santa Maria). These records represent 58 species. None of them is new to the Azores Archipelago. Most of the new records are introduced species, all still with low abundance on the studied islands. This publication contributes to increasing the baseline information for future long-term comparisons of the arthropods of the studied sites and the knowledge of the arthropod fauna of the native forests of the Azores, in terms of species abundance, distribution and diversity throughout seasons and years.
- SLAM Project - Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the natural forest of Azores: IV - The spiders of Terceira and Pico Islands (2019-2021) and general diversity patterns after ten years of samplingPublication . Lhoumeau, Sébastien; Cardoso, Pedro; Costa, Ricardo; Boieiro, Mário; Malumbres-Olarte, Jagoba; Rosário, Isabel Amorim do; Rigal, François; Santos, Ana M. C.; Gabriel, Rosalina; Borges, Paulo A. V.BACKGROUND: Long-term studies are key to understand the drivers of biodiversity erosion, such as land-use change and habitat degradation, climate change, invasive species or pollution. The long-term project SLAM (Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the natural forest of Azores) started in 2012 and focuses on arthropod monitoring, using SLAM (Sea, Land and Air Malaise) traps, aiming to understand the impact of the drivers of biodiversity erosion on Azorean native forests (Azores, Portugal). This is the fourth contribution including SLAM project data and the second focused on the spider fauna (Arachnida, Araneae) of native forests on two islands (Pico and Terceira). In this contribution, we describe data collected between 2019 and 2021 and we analyse them together with a previously published database that covered the 2012-2019 period, in order to describe changes in species abundance patterns over the last ten years. NEW INFORMATION: We present abundance data of Azorean spider species for the 2019-2021 period in two Azorean Islands (Terceira and Pico). We also present analyses of species distribution and abundance of the whole sampling period. In the period of 2019-2021, we collected a total of 5110 spider specimens, of which 2449 (48%) were adults. Most juveniles, with the exception of some exotic Erigoninae, were also included in the data presented in this paper, since the low diversity of spiders in the Azores allows a relatively precise species-level identification of this life-stage. We recorded a total of 45 species, belonging to 39 genera and 16 families. The ten most abundant species were composed mostly of endemic or native non-endemic species and only two exotic species (Tenuiphantes tenuis (Blackwall, 1852) and Dysdera crocata C. L. Koch, 1838). They included 4308 individuals (84%) of all sampled specimens and were the dominant species in Azorean native forests. The family Linyphiidae was the richest and most abundant taxon, with 15 (33%) species and 2630 (51%) specimens. We report Cheiracanthium mildei L. Koch, 1864, a non-native species, from Pico Island for the first time. We found no new species records on Terceira Island. This publication contributes to increasing the baseline information for future long-term comparisons of the spiders on the studied sites and the knowledge of the arachnofauna of the native forests of Terceira and Pico, in terms of species abundance, distribution and diversity across seasons for a 10 years period.
- Monitoring Arthropods in Azorean Agroecosystems : the project AGRO-ECOSERVICESPublication . Borges, Paulo A. V.; Nunes, Rui; Lamelas-López, Lucas; Pereira, Enésima; Costa, Ricardo; Monjardino, Paulo; Lopes, David João Horta; Soares, António O.; Gil, Artur José Freire; Rigal, François; Ferrante, Marco; Lövei, Gabor L.We provided an inventory of all arthropods recorded in four Azorean agroecosystems (citrus orchards, low and high elevation maize fields and vineyards) from Terceira Island. A total of 50412 specimens were collected, belonging to four classes, 20 orders, 81 families and 200 identified species of arthropods. A total of 127 species are considered introduced (n = 22646) and 69 native non-endemic (n = 24117). Four endemic species were recorded with very few specimens (n = 14) and 3635 specimens belong to unidentified taxa recorded only at genus or family level. Five species are new records for Terceira Island, with Lagria hirta (Linnaeus, 1758) (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) being also a new record for the Azores. This publication contributes to a better knowledge of the arthropods communities present in agro-ecosystems of Terceira Island and will serve as a baseline for future monitoring schemes targeting the long-term change in arthropod diversity and abundance.
- New findings of terrestrial arthropods from the Azorean IslandsPublication . Boieiro, Mário; Varga-Szilay, Zsófia; Costa, Ricardo; Crespo, Luis; Leite, Abrão; Oliveira, Raúl; Pozsgai, Gabor; Rego, Carla; Calado, Hugo; Teixeira, Mário; Lopes, David; Soares, António; Borges, Paulo A. V.The knowledge on taxonomic diversity of arthropods is key to better understanding the biodiversity patterns and processes and guiding sustainable conservation strategies and practices. In the Azores, terrestrial arthropods are relatively well-inventoried following the publication of comprehensive checklists that have been regularly updated. Nevertheless, every year, new species are found as a result of new arrivals to the Archipelago and from addressing specific taxonomic lacunae. Here, we update the taxonomic terrestrial arthropod biodiversity of the Azores by reporting for the first time 13 species for the Archipelago, namely Oligonychus perseae Tuttle, Baker & Abbatiello, 1976, Textrix pinicola Simon, 1875, Pholcomma gibbum (Westring, 1851), Schistocerca gregaria (Forsskål, 1775), Phoracantha recurva Newman, 1840, Diachus auratus Fabricius, 1801 Phyllotreta procera (Redtenbacher, 1849), Phyllotreta striolata (Fabricius, 1803), Dibolia occultans (Koch, 1803), Pseudolynchia canariensis (Macquart, 1839), Hermetia illucens (Linnaeus, 1758), Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu, 1951 and Ectemnius cephalotes (Olivier, 1792), and several new species records for specific islands. These species benefitted from the increase in transportation of goods and commodities, both from outside the Archipelago and between islands, to arrive and spread across the Archipelago with some of them posing new challenges to local agriculture, forestry and biodiversity conservation management.
- Festa do Bioblitz Açores: a diversidade dos artrópodes do Jardim Duque da Terceira.Publication . Borges, Paulo A. V.; Leite, Abrão; Parmentier, Laurine; Costa, Ricardo; Lhoumeau, Sébastien; Boieiro, Mário; Rosário, Isabel Amorim Do; Malumbres-Olarte, JagobaComo detalhamos em um outro artigo deste mesmo volume do Pingo de Lava, o BioBlitz Açores 2023 foi um sucesso educativo, lúdico e científico, com o registo de 188 espécies de líquenes, plantas, aves e artrópodes (Amorim et al., 2023). Como é habitual neste tipo de atividades de ciência cidadã ou participativa, os artrópodes foram o grupo melhor representado (86 espécies). Devido aos seus valores de biodiversidade, à sua importância ecológica e ao desconhecimento que o público tem dos artrópodes, neste artigo faz-se uma descrição mais detalhada deste grupo.
- Festa do Bioblitz Açores 2023: tantas espécies que vivem no Jardim!Publication . Amorim, Isabel R.; Parmentier, Laurine; Leite, Abrão; Wallon, Sophie; Ros Prieto, Alejandra; Costa, Ricardo; Lhoumeau, Sébastien; Barcelos, Paulo J.M.; Mendonça, Paulo; Coelho, Ruben; Rodrigues, António F. F.; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Malumbres-Olarte, JagobaNo passado dia 17 de junho de 2023 a Terceira, conhecida entre os açorianos como a ilha festeira, recebeu novamente a festa do bioblitz – BioBlitz Açores 2023. Tal como no primeiro BioBlitz Açores em 2019, o Jardim Duque da Terceira em Angra do Heroísmo foi o local escolhido para a realização desta cada vez mais conhecida atividade de ciência cidadã: “cidadãos comuns” sem formação formal em ciência, orientados por especialistas, participaram na produção de conhecimento científico, neste caso em particular, sobre a biodiversidade que existe nos Açores. E como de um BioBlitz se trata, foram seguidas as diretrizes para este tipo de evento, isto é, a inventariação da biodiversidade, realizada conjuntamente por cientistas e participantes leigos, ocorreu durante um período limitado, sessões com cerca de duas horas, e numa área bem definida, o Jardim Duque da Terceira.
- Arthropod traits as proxies for abundance trends in the Azorean IslandsPublication . Oyarzabal, Guilherme; Cardoso, Pedro; Rigal, François; Boieiro, Mário; Santos, Ana M. C.; Amorim do Rosário, Isabel; Malumbres-Olarte, Jagoba; Costa, Ricardo; Lhoumeau, Sebastian; Pozsgai, Gabor; Gabriel, Rosalina; Borges, Paulo A. V.Human activities drive ecological transformation, impacting island ecosystems from species diversity to ecological traits, mainly through habitat degradation and invasive species. Using two unique long-term datasets we aim to evaluate whether species traits (body size, trophic level, dispersal capacity and habitat occupancy) can predict temporal variations in the abundance of endemic, indigenous (endemic and native non-endemic) and exotic arthropods in the Azores Islands. We found that body size is crucial to predict arthropod abundance trends. Small-bodied herbivorous arthropods showed a decrease in abundance, while large-bodied indigenous arthropods increased in abundance, mainly in well-preserved areas. Also, large-bodied exotic arthropods increased in abundance across the entire archipelago. Moreover, endemic canopy dwellers increased in abundance, while endemic ground-dwellers decreased in abundance. Simultaneously, exotic arthropods showed the opposite result, increasing in abundance in the ground while decreasing in abundance in the canopy. Finally, habitat influenced both endemic and exotic spider abundance trends. Endemic spiders that occupy solely natural habitats experienced a decline in abundance, while exotic spiders in the same habitats increased in abundance. Our study underscores the significance of arthropod species traits in predicting abundance changes in island ecosystems over time, as well as the importance of monitoring species communities. Conservation efforts must extend beyond endangered species to protect non-threatened ones, given the increased extinction risk faced by even common species on islands. Monitoring and restoration programs are essential for preserving island ecosystems and safeguarding endemic arthropod populations.
- Island spider origins show complex vertical stratification patterns in MacaronesiaPublication . Costa, Ricardo; Cardoso, P.; Rigal, F.; Borges, Paulo A. V.1.Spiders are among the most diverse and yet threatened groups of arthropods in Macaronesia. Found in most habitat types, they occupy the vertical gradient of native forests from ground to canopy level. 2. We hypothesize that their vertical distribution is influenced by the colonization origin. As introduced species should arrive using shipping containers and similar means, they should mostly occupy the lower levels in the gradient, with potential negative effects on the indigenous epigean fauna. 3. Spiders were sampled from epigean to arboreal microhabitats (maximum height varying between 2 and 4 m) on 45 sites across five islands belonging to three archipelagos. The mean and range of vertical stratification were obtained for each captured species. These values were then compared between different colonization origins at Macaronesian and archipelagic levels. 4. Native non-endemic species were found at significantly higher vertical strata than both endemic and introduced species. Likewise, native non-endemics had a larger vertical range. These patterns were largely replicated across archipelagos, although there were exceptions. 5. Overall, introduced species do not seem to occur mostly at lower strata in the native forests of Macaronesia (at least in the studied vertical range) but seem to be vertically restricted in most settings with the exception of Madeira.