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Coutinho et al. 2021 - Landscape structure is a major driver of bee functional diversity in crops

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Jun 28, 2021 version files 520.44 KB

Abstract

The study of functional diversity can support the understanding of how changes at the landscape affects the roles of organisms in biological communities and consequently their ecological functions such as pollination. Different aspects of functional diversity have been addressed in recent years. Understanding those effects on landscape patterns is a key step to target ecological intensification. Still, elucidating those relationships requires studies in multiple spatial scales since effects and consequences are different considering biological groups and interactions. In that sense, by using a multitrait approach we evaluated whether the landscape structure and/or local environment characteristics could explain the functional richness, divergence and dispersion of bee communities in agroecosystems. In addition, we investigated to which extent  this approach help to predict effects on pollination services. This study was conducted in an agroecosystem situated in "Chapada Diamantina" region, State of Bahia, Brazil. Bees were collected using two complementary techniques (entomological nets and pan traps) in 27 sample units distributed orthogonally along a gradient of agriculture and landscape diversity. Bees were classified according to their response traits (e.g. body size, nesting location) and effect traits (e.g means of pollen transportation, specialty in obtaining some resource).The Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) was used to select the best models created through the additive combination of landscape descriptors (landscape diversity, mean patch shape and local vegetation structure) at the local, proximal and broad landscape levels. Our results indicate that both landscape heterogeneity and configuration matter in explaining the three properties of bee functional diversity. We indicate that different properties of functional diversity are influenced by different landscape descriptors, at different spatial scales. In this sense, including conjunct strategies, in different spatial scales, considering different ecological processes is a more relevant way to think about land use scenarios in a perspective to contemplate functional diversity.