SLAM Project - Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the Natural Forest of Azores: III - Testing the impact of edge effects in a native forest of Terceira Island

Paulo A V Borges; Lucas Lamelas-López; Noelline Tsafack; Mário Boieiro; Alejandra Ros-Prieto; Rosalina Gabriel; Rui Nunes; Maria Teresa Ferreira

doi:10.3897/BDJ.10.e85971

SLAM Project - Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the Natural Forest of Azores: III - Testing the impact of edge effects in a native forest of Terceira Island

Biodivers Data J. 2022 Jun 16:10:e85971. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.10.e85971. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Paulo A V Borges^{1

2}, Lucas Lamelas-López¹, Noelline Tsafack^{1

3}, Mário Boieiro^{2

1}, Alejandra Ros-Prieto¹, Rosalina Gabriel¹, Rui Nunes¹, Maria Teresa Ferreira³

Affiliations

¹ cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group & CHANGE - Global Change and Sustainability Institute, University of the Azores, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Environment, Rua Capitão João D` Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042, Angra do Heroísmo, Azores, Portugal cE3c - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes / Azorean Biodiversity Group & CHANGE - Global Change and Sustainability Institute, University of the Azores, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Environment, Rua Capitão João D` Ávila, São Pedro, 9700-042 Angra do Heroísmo, Azores Portugal.
² IUCN SSC Mid-Atlantic Islands Specialist Group, Angra do Heroísmo, Azores, Portugal IUCN SSC Mid-Atlantic Islands Specialist Group Angra do Heroísmo, Azores Portugal.
³ Regional Secretariat of Environment and Climate Change, Project LIFE BEETLES (LIFE 18 NAT/PT/000864), Rua do Galo n. 118, 9700-040, Angra do Heroísmo, Azores, Portugal Regional Secretariat of Environment and Climate Change, Project LIFE BEETLES (LIFE 18 NAT/PT/000864), Rua do Galo n. 118, 9700-040 Angra do Heroísmo, Azores Portugal.

Abstract

Background: The data we present are part of the long-term project "SLAM Project - 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). The data for the current study consist in an inventory of arthropods collected in three locations of a native forest fragment at Terra-Brava protected area (Terceira, Azores, Portugal) aiming to test the impact of edge effects on Azorean arthropod communities. The three locations were: (i) the edge of the forest, closer to the pastures; (ii) an intermediate area (100 m from edge); and (iii) the deepest part of the native forest fragment (more than 300 m from edge). The study was carried out between June 2014 and December 2015. A total of nine passive flight interception SLAM (Sea, Land and Air Malaise) traps were deployed (three in each of the studied locations), during 18 consecutive months. This study provides the raw data to investigate temporal and edge effect variation for the Azorean arthropod communities.

New information: The collected arthropods belong to a wide diversity of taxonomic groups of Arachnida, Diplopoda, Chilopoda and Insecta classes. We collected a total of 13,516 specimens from which it was possible to identify to species level almost all specimens (13,504). These identified specimens belong to 15 orders, 58 families (plus three with only genus or family level identification) and 97 species of arthropods. A total of 35 species are considered introduced, 34 native non-endemic and 28 endemic. Additionally, a total of 10 taxa (12 specimens) were recorded at genus, family or order level. This dataset will allow researchers to test the impact of edge effect on arthropod biodiversity and to investigate seasonal changes in Azorean arthropod native forest communities.

Keywords: Arthropoda; Azores; Macaronesia; edge effect; inventory; temporal variation.

Paulo A. V. Borges, Lucas Lamelas-López, Noelline Tsafack, Mário Boieiro, Alejandra Ros-Prieto, Rosalina Gabriel, Rui Nunes, Maria Teresa Ferreira.

Grants and funding

Trap acquisition and fieldwork were funded by the project Portuguese National Funds, through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, within the project UID/BIA/00329/2013-2023. The database management and Open Access was funded by the project “MACRISK-Trait-based prediction of extinction risk and invasiveness for Northern Macaronesian arthropods” Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - PTDC/BIA-CBI/0625/2021 (2022-2024).MB was supported by FCT - DL57/2016/CP1375/CT0001. NT and MTF were supported by the project LIFE-BETTLES (LIFE18 NAT_PT_000864). PAVB and RG were additionally supported by FCT-UIDP/00329/2020-2024 (Thematic Line 1--Integrated ecological assessment of environmental change on biodiversity) and MACRISK -- PTDC/BIA-CBI/0625/2021, through the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.