Fabricio Beggiato BaccaroFederal University of Amazonas | UFAM · Department of Biology
Fabricio Beggiato Baccaro
PhD in Ecology
Parenting, teaching, and writing (in that order)
About
155
Publications
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2,065
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Citations since 2017
Introduction
My research focuses on understanding the structure and dynamics of ecological communities. I'm also interested in the evoutionary outcomes of mutualistic and antagonist interactions at assemblage level. For more information visit my web site: http://www.fbaccaro-ecolab.com
Additional affiliations
March 2016 - present
February 2013 - March 2016
Education
February 2009 - March 2013
February 2004 - April 2006
February 1999 - February 2004
Publications
Publications (155)
Tropical studies traditionally describe insect diversity variation throughout the year. The temporally structured responses of insect assemblages to climate seasonality vary across ecosystems due to gradients of resource availability and limiting ecological factors. These idiosyncratic responses might be particularly true across the vast geographic...
Our planet faces its sixth largest species extinction due to anthropogenic climate change and habitat destruction. This leads us to question whether, given the speed at which we are changing the climate, species with high degrees of endemism would have time to adapt before going extinct. Here, we investigate through teleconnection analysis the orig...
The use of attractants to increase detection of target species, such as carnivores, in camera trap studies must be tested for its effectiveness and be carefully planned, as it can lead to misleading comparisons among species. We analyzed a five-year multi-species camera trap dataset of lured and control stations in a protected area in the Amazon ra...
The seasonal flood pulse in Amazonia can be considered a primary driver of community structure in floodplain environments. Although this natural periodic disturbance is part of the landscape dynamics, the seasonal inundation presents a considerable challenge to organisms that inhabit floodplain forests. The present study investigated the effect of...
Plant species bearing extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) may indirectly influence other plant species by sharing protective ants, potentially altering plant herbivory levels. However, the propagation of indirect effects in this type of mutualism has seldom been investigated. We investigated indirect effects via ant sharing among twenty-one EFN-bearing pl...
Insular environments are among the most endangered ecosystems as they face a myriad of anthropogenic stressors. Forest mammals perform a wide range of ecological services, with their persistence being vital for ecosystem functionality in both natural and artificial islands. Studies revealed that shrinkage in island size usually leads to the decay o...
Despite the historical efforts to list and organize the taxonomic knowledge about the Brazilian ant fauna, the most diverse in the world, several gaps regarding species distribution data and sampling coverage persist. In an attempt to fill some of these gaps, we here apply a scientometric approach to provide an updated overview of the ants of Brazi...
Despite the historical efforts to list and organize the taxonomic knowledge about the Brazilian ant fauna, the most diverse in the world, several gaps regarding species distribution data and sampling coverage persist. In an attempt to fill some of these gaps, we here apply a scientometric approach to provide an updated overview of the ants of Brazi...
The Amazon forest has the highest biodiversity on Earth. However, information on Amazonian vertebrate diversity is still deficient and scattered across the published, peer-reviewed, and gray literature and in unpublished raw data. Camera traps are an effective non-invasive method of surveying vertebrates, applicable to different scales of time and...
The effects of urbanization on biodiversity had been studied mainly in northern hemisphere. Therefore, biodiversity analysis in tropical cities is urgently required for a full understanding of the how animal and plant communities react to urbanization. Parrots are iconic tropical birds and considered particularly vulnerable to urbanization impacts....
Tropical ecosystems are often biodiversity hotspots, and invertebrates represent the main underrepresented component of diversity in large‐scale analyses. This problem is partly related to the scarcity of data widely available to conduct these studies and the lack of systematic organization of knowledge about invertebrates' distributions in biodive...
The Amazon forest has the highest biodiversity on earth. However, information on Amazonian vertebrate diversity is still deficient and scattered across the published, peer‐reviewed and grey literature and in unpublished raw data. Camera traps are an effective non‐invasive method of surveying vertebrates, applicable to different scales of time and s...
Desjardin’s flat bark beetle – Cryptamorpha desjardinsii (Guérin-Méneville, 1844) – is a widespread invasive species that can become a stored products pest and threaten native species. Our objectives were to provide the first detailed records of this species to South America and New Caledonia, and model suitable areas of C. desjardinsii globally ba...
Scientometric investigation and scientific production analysis are essential for science progress. Although a vast number of studies on Brazilian ant diversity have been carried out, a critical analysis of the advances in its scientific production is still missing. We compiled a comprehensive database on ant diversity papers carried out in the Braz...
The high biodiversity of the Amazon region is related to variation in soil physical properties and water-table depths. Dung beetles are efficient bioindicators that feed and breed on the soil surface and below ground, affecting soil properties and being affected by them. Here, we investigate the influence of soil physical characteristics (proportio...
Aim
Current diversity patterns in local communities result from historical and contemporary events that operate at distinct spatial and temporal scales. However, the contribution of local and large-scale processes in structuring species diversity remain a contentious topic in ecology. We investigated diversity patterns (species richness, compositio...
• Mammals can influence ecosystem functioning through essential ecological processes. In patchy landscapes, mammalian diversity can be correlated with ecosystem productivity through its effect on resource availability. However, mammals comprise species with contrasting habitat use and requirements, and it is unknown whether the diversity–productivi...
The objective of this work was to compare soil beetle (Coleoptera) species composition between two sites on the Borborema Plateau in Northeastern Brazil. We collected 483 individuals belonging to 23 Coleoptera families and 75 species/morphospecies. On the east face of the Borborema Plateau (Areia-PB) we collected a total of 332 individuals represen...
Understanding the direct and indirect effects of niche and neutral processes in structuring species diversity is particularly challenging because environmental factors are often geographically structured. Here, we used Structural Equation Modeling to quantify direct and indirect effects of geographic distance, the Amazon River’s opposite margins, a...
Mist nets set at ground level is the traditional method of surveying bats and in the Amazon, almost half of the bat surveys used this methodology. The sole use of ground-level mist nets biases surveys because of the lack of records of aerial insectivorous bats, which forage above the canopy or in other open areas. Canopy mist nets, roost searches a...
1. Large-scale deforestation leads to habitat loss and fragmentation with major consequences for biodiversity. However, the impacts of these environmental disturbances can be mitigated by forest regeneration. We evaluated the effects of forest fragmentation and vegetation recovery on arthropod assemblages in humanmodified landscapes in the Amazon....
To determine the effect of rivers, environmental conditions, and isolation by distance on the distribution of species in Amazonia. Location: Brazilian Amazonia. Time period: Current. Major taxa studied: Birds, fishes, bats, ants, termites, butterflies, ferns ? lyco-phytes, gingers and palms. We compiled a unique dataset of biotic and abiotic inform...
Purpose
Large parts of the Amazon rainforest grow on weathered soils depleted in phosphorus and rock-derived cations. We tested the hypothesis that in this ecosystem, fine roots stimulate decomposition and nutrient release from leaf litter biochemically by releasing enzymes, and by exuding labile carbon stimulating microbial decomposers.
Methods
W...
The nutrient content of soils is considered a key productivity factor. Sediment input from Amazonian rivers is one of the natural sources of soil fertility for fluvial islands and riverbank flooded forests. Despite the importance of soil factors for ecosystems, few edaphic studies along fluvial islands sediment-gradients have been undertaken in tro...
Understanding the distribution of species is essential for the conservation and management of biodiversity. But the availability of this kind of information is still scarce for the most diverse regions. The higher‐taxon approach (i.e. use of coarser taxonomic levels to represent species) as an easier and efficient method in representing species pat...
It is an editorial on a special issue published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Fragmentos ecossistêmicos de areia branca são conhecidos como Campinas e Campinaranas na Amazônia. As Campinas e Campinaranas crescem em áreas com solos arenosos, com elevado oligotrofismo e acidez. Essas áreas ocorrem naturalmente em manchas isoladas circundadas por ambientes de floresta densa. Por sua singularidade ambiental os Ecossistemas de ar...
Plants have been used in Amazonian forests for millennia and some of these plants are disproportionally abundant (hyperdominant). At local scales, people generally use the most abundant plants, which may be abundant as the result of management of indigenous peoples and local communities. However, it is unknown whether plant use is also associated w...
Anti-predator mechanisms play a key role in the survival of any animal in nature. Anurans exhibit a great diversity of defensive behaviours and interact with the widest range of predators of any vertebrates. However, there are few systematic and experi- mental studies of anuran defensive behaviours, which are generally opportunistic. Here, we deplo...
Amazonia comprises a mosaic of contrasting habitats, with wide environmental heterogeneity at local and regional scales. In central Amazonia, upland forest (terra firme) is the predominant forest type and seasonally flooded forests inundated by white- and black-water rivers (várzea and igapó, respectively) represent around 20% of the forested areas...
The state of Pará in northern Brazil is located entirely within the Amazon Basin and harbors a great diversity of landscape and vegetation types that support high levels of biodiversity. Here, we provide a comprehensive inventory of ant species and their distribution in Pará. This regional list is based on an extensive review of species records fro...
Tropical forests are the most diverse and productive ecosystems on Earth. While better understanding of these forests is critical for our collective future, until quite recently efforts to measure and monitor them have been largely disconnected. Networking is essential to discover the answers to questions that transcend borders and the horizons of...
Competition and facilitation are opposite sides of the species-interaction continuum. However, competitive interactions between species could result in facilitation for a third species. We evaluated the patterns of infestation and competitive exclusion between crazy-ants (Nylanderia sp.1) and fire-ants (Solenopsis geminata) and their effect on yell...
The forests of Amazonia are among the most biodiverse plant communities on Earth. Given the immediate threats posed by climate and land-use change, an improved understanding of how this extraordinary biodiversity is spatially organized is urgently required to develop effective conservation strategies. Most Amazonian tree species are extremely rare...
O objetivo foi abordar um mosaico de vegetação de savana (áreas marginais-MS e disjuntas-DS) no Cerrado Setentrional Brasileiro para investigar o papel desempenhado por fatores ambientais como determinantes da organização comunitária em escala espacial, a fim de compreender os padrões divergentes ao longo de uma gradiente ambiental. Analisamos pred...
Tropical forests are the most diverse and productive ecosystems on Earth. While better understanding of these forests is critical for our collective future, until quite recently efforts to measure and monitor them have been largely disconnected. Networking is essential to discover the answers to questions that transcend borders and the horizons of...
Tropical forests are the most diverse and productive ecosystems on Earth. While better understanding of these forests is critical for our collective future, until quite recently efforts to measure and monitor them have been largely disconnected. Networking is essential to discover the answers to questions that transcend borders and the horizons of...
The nutrient content of soils is considered a productivity key factor. Sediment input from Amazonian rivers is one of the natural sources of soil fertility for uvial islands and riverbank ooded forests. Despite the importance of soil factors for ecosystems, few edaphic studies along riverine sediment-gradients have been undertaken in tropical areas...
The Program for Biodiversity Research (PPBio) is an innovative program designed to integrate all biodiversity research stakeholders. Operating since 2004, it has installed long-term ecological research sites throughout Brazil and its logic has been applied in some other southern-hemisphere countries. The program supports all aspects of research nec...
To understand better the effects of niche and neutral processes is important to disentangle the direct and indirect effects of each process, mainly if the environmental factors are geographically structured neglecting important indirect and synergic effects. We sampled ground-dwelling ant species on 126 plots distributed across eight sampling sites...
Floodplain areas comprise some 30% of the area in the Amazon, but are currently under severe anthropogenic threat. Across the Amazon Basin, forest‐dwelling non‐volant mammals play crucial roles in maintaining the integrity of forest functionality, yet have been poorly studied in fluvial island forests. Mammal assemblages may be affected by edaphic...
The forests of Amazonia are among the most biodiverse plant communities on Earth. Given the immediate threats posed by climate and land-use change, an improved understanding of how this extraordinary biodiversity is spatially organized is urgently required to develop effective conservation strategies. Most Amazonian tree species are extremely rare...
Natural disturbances change environmental conditions that play an important role in controlling biodiversity. Large‐scale windthrows (i.e. snapped and uprooted trees) promoted by convective systems cause severe tree mortality and can alter the dynamics of several insect taxons in forests. We assessed the effect of large‐scale windthrows resulting f...
The Program for Biodiversity Research (PPBio) is an innovative program designed to integrate all biodiversity research stakeholders. Operating since 2004, it has installed long-term ecological research sites throughout Brazil and its logic has been applied in some other southern-hemisphere countries. The program supports all aspects of research nec...
Secondary forests occupy extensive areas in tropical regions, providing an opportunity to investigate their relevance to biodiversity restoration. However, determining the conservation value of secondary forests and evaluating their successional trajectories depends on how biodiversity is measured. Here, we explore different biodiversity dimensions...
To determine the effect of rivers, environmental conditions, and isolation by distance on the distribution of species in Amazonia. Location: Brazilian Amazonia. Time period: Current. Major taxa studied: Birds, fishes, bats, ants, termites, butterflies, ferns ? lyco-phytes, gingers and palms. We compiled a unique dataset of biotic and abiotic inform...
• Groundwater fluctuation follows the rainfall regime and is a natural source of disturbance by limiting the soil volume available for ant nesting. However, in areas with shallow water‐table unpredicted floods are more frequent, which may also affect the distribution of litter ant species. Here, we evaluated the behavioural responses and diversity...
Optimal foraging theory predicts that animals will seek simultaneously to minimize food processing time and maximize energetic gain. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated whether a specialist seed‐predator primate forages optimally when choosing among variable‐sized thick‐husked fruits. Our objects of study were the golden‐backed uacari (Cacajao ou...
Terrestriality in Platyrrhine primates is primarily associated with low arboreal resource availability, low predation risk when on the ground and increased contact time with human observers. To test the relationship between these variables and ground use frequency, we studied a group of endangered Coimbra-Filho’s titi monkeys (Callicebus coimbrai)...
https://www.epe.gov.br/sites-pt/publicacoes-dados-abertos/publicacoes/PublishingImages/Paginas/Forms/Publicaes/EAAS%20Solim%c3%b5es%20-%20vers%c3%a3o%20completa.pdf
A velocidade de infecção e o número de óbitos associados à Covid-19 têm variado muito entre países e regiões do Brasil. Essa variação está associada principalmente à agilidade e eficiência com que medidas de distanciamento social foram implementadas, assim como à qualidade dos sistemas nacionais de saúde, às características socioculturais, demográf...
In the Amazon basin, ants are often associated with environmental or edaphic factors. However, these associations may vary between the epigeic and hypogeic strata. Here, we investigated differences in richness and composition of epigeic and hypogeic ant assemblages along an environmental gradient in the Brazilian Amazon. The four studied sites cove...
Central Amazon has been subjected to a higher frequency of extreme climatic events, such as very dry or very wet years, in the last decades. Here, we report a 20-year monitoring of 6 biological groups over 100 km2
of typical terra-firme forest at Ducke Forest Reserve, Manaus. Most assemblages had a decrease in abundance (9 – 35 %) and richness (8 –...
There is evidence that COVID-19, the disease caused by the betacoronavirus SARS-CoV-2, is sensitive to environmental conditions. However, such conditions often correlate with demographic and socioeconomic factors at larger spatial extents, which could confound this inference. We evaluated the effect of meteorological conditions (temperature, solar...
As formigas são os principais dispersores invertebrados de sementes encontradas no solo. No entanto, ainda conhecemos pouco sobre a história natural das espécies de formigas e como elas poderiam atuar na dispersão de sementes. Em busca de padrões alométricos entre formigas e sementes, que poderiam ser extrapolados para outros locais e outras espéci...
The sensitivity of tropical forest carbon to climate is a key uncertainty in predicting global climate change. Although short-term drying and warming are known to affect forests, it is unknown if such effects translate into long-term responses. Here, we analyze 590 permanent plots measured across the tropics to derive the equilibrium climate contro...
The sensitivity of tropical forest carbon to climate is a key uncertainty in predicting global climate change. Although short-term drying and warming are known to affect forests, it is unknown if such effects translate into long-term responses. Here, we analyze 590 permanent plots measured across the tropics to derive the equilibrium climate contro...
As populações da Amazônia são extremamente vulneráveis à COVID-19 devido ao intenso fluxo entre as localidades rurais e as sedes municipais e à falta de infraestrutura de saúde básica adequada na região. O objetivo deste estudo foi (1) avaliar o efeito da medida de distanciamento social sobre a disseminação da COVID-19 em sedes municipais e (2) est...
The American bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus has a natural distribution in North America, but was spread by human activities in different regions around the world. It is listed as the most invasive amphibian species, affecting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and the community of native species. In addition, the American bullfrog is extensively...
