Processo sucessional de uma sucessional de uma comunidade de insetos em comunidade de insetos em fitotelmatas no semiárido brasileiro fitotelmatas no semiárido brasileiro fitotelmatas no semiárido brasileiro

Abstract

The phytotelmata in Brazilian semi-arid tends to be ephemeral because it has a drier climate, more spaced vegetation and a short and intense rainy season. These peculiarities reduce the availability and permanence of small reservoirs and interfere in the relationships in those communities, for example, species colonization time, resource availability, predator-prey relationship, which may limit abundance and influence species richness over time. The objectives of this study were: To verify if the community, over time, increases the diversity and the exchange of species (H1: ecological succession), and if the community of insects in phytotelmata is structured by predators (H1: top-down). This study was carried out in a riparian forest of the cerrado biome in the semiarid region of northern Minas Gerais, Brazil. Intolerant phytotelmata of bamboo were installed, which were supplied naturally with rainwater, internodes were collected periodically for 45 days. The insects found in the internodes totaled 1618 individuals, distributed in 10 taxa, belonging in great greater order to Diptera. We observed a dynamics of the community over time, similar to an initial process of ecological succession, containing species exchange and increased diversity. We also observed the effect of predators in community structuring, especially the predatory larva Toxorhynchites theobaldi (Diptera: Culicidae), limiting the abundance of Empididae and increasing species diversity.