Frederico Neves

• Dr.
• Professor (Full) at Federal University of Minas Gerais

Understanding tropical forest succession is critical for the development of tropical forest conservation strategies worldwide, given that tropical secondary forests can be considered the forests of the future. Tropical dry forests (TDF) are among the most threatened tropical ecosystems, there are more secondary forests and forest restoration effort...

We reviewed the evidence on the role of ants as plant biotic defenses, by conducting meta-analyses for the effects of experimental removal of ants on plant herbivory and fitness with data pooled from 81 studies. Effects reviewed were plant herbivory, herbivore abundance, hemipteran abundance, predator abundance, plant biomass and reproduction in st...

Forest-grassland mosaics comprise a major component of tropical landscapes, hosting invaluable biodiversity and providing essential ecosystem services to hundreds of millions of people worldwide. While open biomes often benefit from disturbance, forests can particularly be susceptible to structural changes resulting from such disruptions. Here we e...

Assessing plant-pollinator relationships often employs a snapshot approach to describe the complexity and dynamic involving species interactions. However, this framework overlooks the nuanced changes in species composition, their interactions, and the underlying drivers of such variations. This is particularly evident on less explored temporal scal...

Unraveling the spatiotemporal dynamics of communities is critical to understand how biodiversity responds to global changes. However, this task is not trivial, as these dynamics are quite complex, and most studies are limited to few taxa at small local and temporal scales. Tropical mountains are ideal indicators of biodiversity response since these...

Communication is critical for social insects and largely mediated by cuticular hydrocarbon compounds (CHCs). The CHCs are diverse and involved in different functions, including nestmate recognition, and protection against desiccation. Their production is costly and context‐dependent, and organisms must prioritise those necessary for survival and fi...

Scavenging is a key process for the cycling of nutrients in ecosystems, yet it is still neglected in the ecological literature. Apart from the importance of specific groups of animals in scavenging, there have been few ecological studies that compare them. Furthermore, the ecological studies on scavenging have mainly focused on vertebrates despite...

Plant–herbivore interactions are pivotal in shaping terrestrial ecosystems, influencing plant populations and insect diversity; however, little is known about how anthropogenic impacts affect the beta diversity of these interactions. In our study, we investigated plant–herbivore networks across an urbanization gradient in Brazilian Cerrado. We test...

Many Neotropical beetles present coloration patterns mimicking red-eyed flies, which are presumably evasive mimicry models. However, the role of predators in selecting for evasive mimics in nature remains untested. In a field experiment, we used nontoxic plasticine replicas of a specialized fly-mimicking beetle species, which we placed on the host...

Iron Formations (IF) are among the most threatened environments due to the extensive mining activities. Mesovoid Shallow Substratum (MSS) in IF represents a poorly known subterranean environment and evaluating its fauna has the potential for expanding knowledge about the distribution of troglobiotic populations. We evaluated the spatiotemporal dist...

Evaluating the diversity of multiple taxa is fundamental to understand community assembly and to assess the integrity and functionality of tropical secondary forests. In this study, we analyzed the natural regeneration of tropical dry forests (TDFs) in three regions of Brazil using Hill–Simpson diversity, abundance and β‐diversity of trees and five...

The Earth's most diverse group of organisms is facing an imminent crisis, as recent investigations suggest a remarkable decline in insect diversity. Within this context, altimontane forest islands might emerge as important refuges holding an invaluable diversity of species that would be doomed to disappear. Here, we aimed to examine the impact of f...

Aim We evaluated the effects of forest island size, isolation and area in the landscape driving temporal changes of insect biodiversity in a mountaintop forest archipelago. We expected that (i) in smaller, less isolated forest islands, changes in insect composition are more prominent, primarily driven by gains over time; (ii) more forest in the lan...

Understanding community assembly in habitat patches requires an integrative approach, considering the potential role of local and regional factors and organisms' dispersal abilities among patches. For this, assessing the degree of species overlap between patches (nestedness) can be particularly informative, especially regarding different taxa and d...

Characterising host selection mechanisms and the performance of seed‐predating insects on different hosts has broad implications for ecology and applied entomology. We assessed host selection and performance of endophagous seed‐predating insects on three species of Copaifera , testing two hypotheses: (i) large‐sized trees produce larger seeds and h...

Aim Most biodiversity studies have considered species to be isolated entities, neglecting the fact that their biotic interactions and spatial variation are fundamental to their persistence across elevational gradients. Here, using a standardized sampling methodology, we evaluated how and why the composition of flower–visitor interactions (i.e. beta...

We evaluated short-(among months within-years) and long-term (between 1999-2000 and 2016-2017) temporal patterns of taxonomic and functional β-diversity (and its components of substitution and gain/loss) of dung beetle assemblages in forest fragments and pastures in the Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve (LTBR). Habitat type affected the taxonomic dissi...

Amidst countless challenges, such as the need to see the real importance of mechanisms for maintaining species diversity (Chesson 2000), we must invest strong efforts to collect biological data on Neotropical gradients. Despite the large number of variables and mechanisms deriving from these gradients, the theory of ecological communities can be us...

Encounters between flowers and invertebrates are key events for the functioning of tropical forests. Assessing the structure of networks composed of the interactions between those partners leads to a better understanding of ecosystem functioning and the effects of environmental factors on ecological processes. Gathering such data is, however, costl...

Studies at local spatial scales have shown that the generalist honeybee Apis mellifera L. can strongly affect the structural organization and properties of pollination networks. However, there is still little knowledge on how the connectivity of the honeybee within networks (i.e., interactive role) could affect pollination networks at a global scal...

Despite the recent advances regarding the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of ant–trophobiont mutualistic interactions, understanding their spatial variation remains a challenge. An approach involving species interaction networks is a helpful tool to overcome it because it allows us to compare how different species interact among them. Here, we...

Parasitic plants are important sources of stress and can strongly impact their host plants through direct and indirect associations with other herbivores and their associated organisms. In the tropics, mistletoes are frequent parasitic plants, influencing different trophic levels involved with the host plant. Here, we investigated the direct and in...

Fluid-feeding herbivores directly affect host plants through sap consumption. Moreover, they establish mutualistic relationships with ants, which might generate additional reproductive costs related to pollinator repellence. Here we studied the drivers of variation in the outcomes of these interactions from the perspective of Psittacanthus robustus...

Ants, an ecologically successful and numerically dominant group of animals, play key ecological roles as soil engineers, predators, nutrient recyclers, and regulators of plant growth and reproduction in most terrestrial ecosystems. Further, ants are widely used as bioindicators of the ecological impact of land use. We gathered information of ant sp...

Fluid-feeding herbivores directly affect host plants through sap consumption. Moreover, they establish mutualistic relationships with ants, which might generate additional reproductive costs related to pollinator repellence. Here we studied the drivers of variation in the outcomes of these interactions from the perspective of Psittacanthus robustus...

Trophic specialisation is known to vary across space, but the environmental factors explaining such variation remain elusive. Here we used a global dataset of flower‐visitor networks to evaluate how trophic specialisation varies between latitudinal zones (tropical and temperate) and across elevation gradients, while considering the environmental va...

Insects make up the bulk of terrestrial diversity and about half of insect species are herbivores that have direct relationships with their host plants and are the basis of the entire food chain, on which wildlife and humanity depend. Some herbivorous insect traits, such as their spatio-temporal distribution, are especially relevant in the current...

In tropical forest canopies, host tree characteristics shape epiphyte communities, and both host tree characteristics and epiphytes determine invertebrate communities, for example, ants. Tree height is among the factors most often mentioned as a strong predictor for both bromeliad and ant communities. However, many factors interact dynamically in s...

• Termite nests may offer shelter to a number of species, alleviating the effects of environmental harshness. Certain elevational gradients provide variation on edaphoclimatic features, possibly generating harsh environmental conditions and boosting the number of immigrants seeking shelter within termitaria. Therefore, it is expected that metrics d...

Naturally fragmented landscapes are adequate systems for evaluating patterns and mechanisms that determine species distribution without confounding effects of anthropogenic fragmentation and habitat loss. We aimed to evaluate an ant metacommunity's spatiotemporal patterns in montane forest islands amid a grassland-dominated matrix. We assessed thes...

en Tropical dry forests (TDFs) are one of the most threatened ecosystems worldwide. Two hypotheses have been proposed to explain the origin of TDFs in South America: the Amazonian TDF hypothesis and the Pleistocene Arc hypothesis (PAH). There is a need to evaluate the distribution patterns of different organisms across the TDF distribution. We test...

How much leaf area do insects eat? A data set of insect herbivory sampled globally with a standardized protocol. Ecology 102(4): Abstract. Herbivory is ubiquitous. Despite being a potential driver of plant distribution and performance, herbivory remains largely undocumented. Some early attempts have been made to review, globally, how much leaf area...

Habitat conversion is one of the major threats for biodiversity conservation and viability of natural populations. Thus, habitat disturbance alters distinct ecological processes, such as plant reproductive success and diaspore fate. In this study, we determined the effects of seasonally tropical dry forests (STDFs) conversion by anthropogenic distu...

Aim Ancient tropical mountains are megadiverse, yet little is known about the distribution of their species. We aimed to disentangle the effects of latitudinal and elevational gradients on the distribution of species of Aculeata and to understand the effects of climatic variables across different spatial scales of diversity (α‐, γ‐, and β‐diversity...

Herbivory is ubiquitous. Despite being a potential driver of plant distribution and performance, herbivory remains largely undocumented. Some early attempts have been made to review, globally, how much leaf area is removed through insect feeding. Kozlov et al., in one of the most comprehensive reviews regarding global patterns of herbivory, have co...

Ants are diverse and ecologically important organisms in tropical forests, where their spatiotemporal distribution can be highly complex. This complexity arises mainly from marked differences in microclimatic conditions and resource availability through space and time that is even more evident in highly seasonal environments, such as tropical dry f...

Both decreases in compositional similarity with increasing geographic distances between sites (i.e. distance–decay relationship) and vertical stratification of species composition are key issues in ecology. However, the intersection between these two trends has scarcely been investigated. Here we use identical sampling methods in the canopy and at...

The general pattern of herbivory throughout succession has been drawn chiefly from temperate forest studies and mainly at the understorey. This is one of the very few studies to document canopy herbivory in relation to successional stages of tropical seasonally dry forests. Diversity of free-feeding herbivores (chewing and sap-sucking) and leaf dam...

Global sustainability rests on a myriad of benefits provided by natural ecosystems that support human livelihoods and well-being, from biodiversity persistence to climate regulation. The undeniable importance of conserving tropical forests has drawn most of the conservation spotlight towards it. However, open ecosystems such as the Brazilian Campo...

Ecological communities vary considerably in space and time and understanding such changes has fundamental relevance for ecology and conservation sciences. Mountains provide an excellent scenario for studies addressing spatial and temporal variation, as they vary in conditions and resources in a small geographic region. Here, we aimed to understand...

Mountains are among the most powerful natural gradients for testing ecological and evolutionary responses of biota to environmental influences because differences in climate and plant structure occur over short spatial scales. We describe the spatiotemporal distribution patterns and drives of fruit‐feeding butterfly diversity in the mountainous reg...

Nestedness is widely observed in natural metacommunities, but its underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. The distribution of habitats in the landscape and differences in dispersal rates of distinct insect taxa can determine the nestedness of the metacommunity. Here, we evaluated how species habitat specialization contributes to metacomm...

Nestedness is widely observed in natural metacommunities, but its underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. The distribution of habitats in the landscape and differences in dispersal rates of distinct insect taxa can determine the nestedness of the metacommunity. Here, we evaluated how species habitat specialization contributes to metacomm...

Understanding the factors that influence the composition and structure of bee communities in natural habitats is critical for conservation and restoration efforts, mainly in disturbed ecosystems that are widely used for agricultural crop production, such as tropical dry forests (TDF). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of tree specie...

Traditionally, most studies have described the organization of host–parasite interaction networks by considering only few host groups at limited geographical extents. However, host–parasite relationships are merged within different taxonomic groups and factors shaping these interactions likely differ between host and parasite groups, making group‐l...

• We investigated the patterns of taxonomic (TD) and functional (FD) α and β‐diversities of ants in a mountainous landscape along three dimensions, namely one temporal (seasonal) and two spatial dimensions: between habitats – grassland and forest habitats (horizontal), and among elevation bands (vertical). In addition, we tested the effects of envi...

Naturally fragmented landscapes provide a suitable opportunity for investigating species dynamics under the sole influence of habitat fragmentation. Various approaches have used landscape attributes (e.g., patch size and connectivity) to explain patterns of species diversity and composition. We evaluated the influence that patch and landscape attri...

Myrmecochory (seed dispersal by ants) is a unique seed dispersal syndrome among invertebrates. It comprises three main phases: seed removal, seed manipulation, and seed deposition. However, the contribution of each phase to seed and seedling fate remains unclear. Here, we experimentally quantified the effects of each phase of myrmecochory on seed g...

Tackling complex environmental issues requires transdisciplinary solutions that cannot be achieved, unless we integrate scientific disciplines and communicate science directly with civil society actors, decision-makers, and stakeholders. Alexander von Humboldt offered an approach to integrate knowledge across disciplines aiming to broadly understan...

Tackling complex environmental issues requires transdisciplinary solutions that cannot be achieved, unless we integrate scientific disciplines and communicate science directly with civil society actors, decision-makers, and stakeholders. Alexander von Humboldt offered an approach to integrate knowledge across disciplines aiming to broadly understan...

Insect–plant interactions occur in several ways and have considerable environmental and ecological importance. Many feeding strategies have evolved among herbivorous insects, with host–herbivore systems likely being influenced by trophobionts with ants. We investigated how these interactions vary across elevation gradients by evaluating the structu...

When aiming to assess the effects of elevation on animal diversity, many studies have been carried out in different vegetation types occurring across elevational gradients. Thus, it remains unclear if any changes observed in species richness are caused by factors directly associated with elevation or are caused by vegetation change across the gradi...

From 2013 to 2016, a study using Malaise traps (primarily designed for hymenopteran communities) was carried out through the Espinhaço Mountain Range, among the Brazilian states of Minas Gerais and Bahia. A total of 1,000 butterflies belonging to six families, Pieridae (n = 353), Nymphalidae (n = 274), Hesperiidae (n = 205), Lycaenidae (n = 139), R...

1. Disturbance is a strong driver of community assembly and fire has long been recognised as one of the main disturbances of terrestrial ecosystems. This study tested the resilience of dung beetles to fire events in campos rupestres, which is a tropical savanna ecosystem that evolved under a frequent fire regime, by assessing the resistance and rec...

Tropical dry forests are characterized by a pronounced dry season, when most trees shed their leaves, and a rainy season characterized by the production of new leaves. This study aimed to determine the effect of the first rains at the beginning of the rainy season on the insect herbivore fauna. We sampled 90 trees at the end of the dry season and 6...

Ground-dwelling ants are active foragers that may extend their foraging area into the vegetation, although the factors affecting their diversity in the suspended litter of understorey plants remain overlooked. To evaluate the influence of the distance between strata, litter biomass and plant size on the ant fauna, the litter ant assemblage of the s...

Canopy ecology is a fast-growing field, but still a scientific frontier in many ecological aspects. For instance, the hypothesis that tree traits shape patterns in ant-plant interactions lacks data, notably for tropical canopies in different successional stages. In this study, we investigated canopy traits, such as tree height, the presence of extr...

Abstract Tropical dry forests are among the most threatened tropical ecosystems. Human-modifications to landscapes create forest patches that vary in size and shape, which in turn affects regional insect diversity. We evaluated β-diversity of insect herbivores and the effects that forest cover has on guild richness and abundance at five landscape s...

Campo rupestre is a megadiverse vegetation mosaic dominating one of the world’s geologically oldest tropical mountains. The campo rupestre hosts nearly 15% of Brazil’s flora, with 40% of endemism in an area smaller than 1% of the national territory. Here, we summarize and explain the rationale underlying the long-term ecological research at Serra d...

List of species from campo rupestre

Tradução do artigo original "Ecology and evolution of plant diversity in the endangered campo 26 rupestre: a neglected conservation priority. Plant and Soil 403: 192-152" que pode ser acessado aqui (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11104-015-2637-8). Em caso de citação, deve-se mencionar o artigo original. A permissão para a tradução foi...

Highly seasonal conditions of tropical dry forests determine the temporal patterns of insect abundance. However, density-independent factors such as natural disturbances can abruptly change environmental conditions, affecting insect populations. We address the effects of the Hurricane Patricia (category 5) on species density and abundance of three...

Animal-plant interactions have a major influence on ecosystem structure and functioning. Understanding to what extent the temporal dynamics of interactions is determined by climate and disturbances is thus relevant to predict ecological and evolutionary outcomes in a changing world. Here, we assessed whether the temporal dynamics of ant-plant inter...

Biodiversity loss and anthropogenic environmental changes are known to impact ecosystem functions and services. However, there are still some uncertainties such as confounding environmental factors other than community attributes that affect ecosystem functioning. Our goal was to understand what factors influence the performance of Scarabaeinae dun...

Naturally fragmented landscapes provide suitable scenarios through which to investigate patch and landscape effects on biodiversity patterns in areas that are isolated from the disturbances usually associated with human-made fragments. We aimed to investigate the patch and landscape effects on the diversity of forest-dependent and matrix-tolerant d...

The balance between the costs and benefits of fleshy fruit production depends on the feeding behavior of their seed dispersers, which might effectively disperse seeds to farther areas or drop beneath parent plants some diaspores they handle during frugivory bouts. Nevertheless, the consequences of variation in fruit handling by primary seed dispers...

Experimental setup for assessment of diaspore removal in the field. A, B—Sampling blocks comprising two tracking stations close to each other, one with diaspore piles accessible to ants and vertebrates (open) and the other accessible exclusively to ants (caged); Wire exclosure cages with seed (C) and fruit piles (D); E—Wire cage structure without m...

Supplementary methods. (PDF)

Overview of the study site and plant species. A, B—Study site encompassing campo rupestre vegetation; C—Miconia irwinii treelet; D—Ripe fruits; E, F—Fruits with fleshy pulp partially eaten by birds. (PDF)

Data from “Handling by avian frugivores affects diaspore secondary removal”. (XLSX)

Birds acting as primary seed dispersers of Miconia irwinii at Serra do Cipó, Brazil. The Cinnamon Tanager (Schistochlamys ruficapillus) (A) and the Black-throated Saltator (Saltatricula atricollis) (B) feeding on M. irwinii fruits, pulp-free seeds stuck to the birds’ bills in detail; the Rufous-collared Sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis) (C), the Plain...

Ground-dwelling fauna recorded during diaspore removal experiments. A—The Brazilian Guinea Pig (Cavia aperea), its feces and footprints found on a tracking station with missing pulp-free seeds (B); The lizards Tropidurus montanus (C), Eurolophosaurus nanuzae (D) and Ameivula cipoensis (E) were frequently recorded near tracking stations; F—The ant C...

The ant Camponotus rufipes as a secondary seed disperser of Miconia irwinii. Edited by AJA. (MP4)

Traps installed to intercept diaspores falling beneath the crown of Miconia irwinii. A, B, C—Fruiting individuals of M. irwinii with diaspore traps; D—Detail of a diaspore trap made with filter paper attached to wire circles; E—A twine coated with sticky barrier in detail; F—The Chalk-browed Mockingbird (Mimus saturninus) feeding on M. irwinii frui...

S2 Fig. Traps installed to intercept diaspores falling beneath the crown of Miconia irwinii. A, B, C - Fruiting individuals of M. irwinii with diaspore traps; D - Detail of a diaspore trap made with filter paper attached to wire circles; E - A twine coated with sticky barrier in detail; F - The Chalk-browed Mockingbird (Mimus saturninus) feeding on...

S1 Fig. Overview of the study site and plant species. A, B - Study site encompassing campo rupestre vegetation; C - Miconia irwinii treelet; D - Ripe fruits; E, F - Fruits with fleshy pulp partially eaten by birds.

S4 Fig. Birds acting as primary seed dispersers of Miconia irwinii at Serra do Cipó, Brazil. The Cinnamon Tanager (Schistochlamys ruficapillus) (A) and the Black-throated Saltator (Saltatricula atricollis) (B) feeding on M. irwinii fruits, pulp-free seeds stuck to the birds’ bills in detail; the Rufous-collared Sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis) (C), t...

S1 Text. Supplementary methods.

S1 Film. The ant Camponotus rufipes as a secondary seed disperser of Miconia irwinii. Edited by André Jardin Arruda.

S3 Fig. Experimental setup for assessment of diaspore removal in the field. A, B - Sampling blocks comprising two tracking stations close to each other, one with diaspore piles accessible to ants and vertebrates (open) and the other accessible exclusively to ants (caged); Wire exclosure cages with seed (C) and fruit piles (D); E - Wire cage structu...

S5 Fig. Ground-dwelling fauna recorded during diaspore removal experiments. A - The Brazilian Guinea Pig (Cavia aperea), its feces and footprints found on a tracking station with missing pulp-free seeds (B); The lizards Tropidurus montanus (C), Eurolophosaurus nanuzae (D) and Ameivula cipoensis (E) were frequently recorded near tracking stations; F...

Gradient of stressful conditions affect plant physiological and morphological traits. Previous studies have shown that plants located at higher altitudes might exhibit higher levels of both fluctuating asymmetry and leaf thickness. Although it is expected that higher fluctuating asymmetry levels should be accompanied by higher leaf consumption by h...

The foraging behavior and survivorship of termites are modified by the presence of wood-inhabiting fungi. Nonetheless, it is not clear if these interactions are beneficial, negative, or neutral for termites. We conducted a meta-analytical review to determine if the presence of wood-inhabiting fungi affects the foraging behavior and survivorship of...

In this study, we conducted a series of experiments in a population of Vachellia constricta (Fabaceae) in the arid Tehuacan-Cuicatláan valley, Mexico, in order to evaluate if the food source quality and ant dominance hierarchy influence the outcomes of ant-plant interactions. Using an experiment with artificial nectaries, we observed that ants fora...

Tropical dry forests are among the most diverse and threatened habitats in the world, yet they are rarely protected and remain poorly studied. In Brazil, dry forests are naturally fragmented and embedded within various biomes, thus making it important to assess biotic homogeneity among geographically separated forest fragments. We sampled 7732 indi...