ArticlePublisher preview available

Range increase of a Neotropical orchid bee under future scenarios of climate change

DOI:10.1007/s10841-015-9807-0
Authors:
Daniel De Paiva Silva at Instituto Federal Goiano
Daniel De Paiva Silva
Ana C. B. A. Macêdo
Ana C. B. A. Macêdo
Ana C. B. A. Macêdo
  • This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.
John S. Ascher at National University of Singapore
John S. Ascher
Paulo De Marco Júnior at Universidade Federal de Goiás
Paulo De Marco Júnior
Read publisher preview
Download citation
To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors.

Abstract and Figures

Along with other human impacts, climate change is an important driver of biological changes worldwide and is expected to severely affect species distributions. Although dramatic range shifts and contractions are predicted for many taxa occurring at higher latitudes, including bumble bees, the response of widespread tropical species is less clear due in part to scarcity of reliable occurrence data. Newly mobilized specimen records and improved species distribution models facilitate more robust assessment of future climate effects under various scenarios. Here, we predict both current and future distribution of the orchid bee Eulaema nigrita Lepeletier, 1841 (Apidae: Euglossinae), a large-bodied species widely distributed in the Neotropics whose populations within the Amazon region are believed to be controlled by cleptoparasitic Euglossini bees, such as Exaerete smaragdina Guérin-Menéville, 1844 and Aglae caerulea Lepeletier and Serville, 1825. Under both current and future scenarios of climate change, El. nigrita is expected to persist in deforested areas including those that might suffer desertification. While under current climatic conditions this species is not expected to occur in central Amazonia where the forest is still conserved, its range is expected to increase under future scenarios of climate change, especially in areas corresponding to the arc of deforestation in eastern Amazonia. The increase of human-related disturbances in this biome, as well as changes in the relationship of El. nigrita–Ex. smaragdina and El. nigrita–A. caerulea may explain the potential range increase of El. nigrita under future scenarios of climate change.
Figures - available from: Journal of Insect Conservation
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
  • A preview of this full-text is provided by Springer Nature.
  • Learn more
Preview content only
Content available from Journal of Insect Conservation
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
ORIGINAL PAPER
Range increase of a Neotropical orchid bee under future scenarios
of climate change
Daniel P. Silva
1
•Ana C. B. A. Mace
ˆdo
2
•John S. Ascher
3
•Paulo De Marco Jr.
2,4
Received: 9 April 2015 / Accepted: 28 September 2015 / Published online: 13 October 2015
ÓSpringer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
Abstract Along with other human impacts, climate
change is an important driver of biological changes
worldwide and is expected to severely affect species dis-
tributions. Although dramatic range shifts and contractions
are predicted for many taxa occurring at higher latitudes,
including bumble bees, the response of widespread tropical
species is less clear due in part to scarcity of reliable
occurrence data. Newly mobilized specimen records and
improved species distribution models facilitate more robust
assessment of future climate effects under various scenar-
ios. Here, we predict both current and future distribution of
the orchid bee Eulaema nigrita Lepeletier, 1841 (Apidae:
Euglossinae), a large-bodied species widely distributed in
the Neotropics whose populations within the Amazon
region are believed to be controlled by cleptoparasitic
Euglossini bees, such as Exaerete smaragdina Gue
´rin-
Mene
´ville, 1844 and Aglae caerulea Lepeletier and
Serville, 1825. Under both current and future scenarios of
climate change, El.nigrita is expected to persist in defor-
ested areas including those that might suffer desertification.
While under current climatic conditions this species is not
expected to occur in central Amazonia where the forest is
still conserved, its range is expected to increase under
future scenarios of climate change, especially in areas
corresponding to the arc of deforestation in eastern Ama-
zonia. The increase of human-related disturbances in this
biome, as well as changes in the relationship of El.nigrita–
Ex.smaragdina and El.nigrita–A.caerulea may explain
the potential range increase of El.nigrita under future
scenarios of climate change.
Keywords Amazon Brazil Climate change
Euglossini Deforestation Species distribution models
Introduction
Accelerating human population increase since the 1800s
has led to environmental disturbances such as landscape
fragmentation and habitat loss, contributing to the current
biodiversity crisis (Chapin et al. 2000; Foley et al. 2005;
Tylianakis et al. 2008). One of humanity’s most urgent
challenges consists of conserving biodiversity and main-
taining related functions and services such as pollination by
bees, but predictions of the response of biodiversity to
global change are distressing. General increases in Earth’s
atmospheric temperatures caused by carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gases, and resulting climate changes are
predicted to cause major biological changes to species and
ecosystems worldwide (Root et al. 2003; Parmesan and
Yohe 2003; Thomas et al. 2004; Moline et al. 2004;
Parmesan 2006), and addressing this problem is an
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this
article (doi:10.1007/s10841-015-9807-0) contains supplementary
material, which is available to authorized users.
&Daniel P. Silva
daniel.paivasilva@gmail.com
1
Departamento de Cie
ˆncias Biolo
´gicas, Instituto Federal
Goiano, Rodovia Geraldo Silva Nascimento, KM 2,5, Zona
Rural, Urutaı
´, GO CEP 75790-000, Brazil
2
Theory, Metapopulation and Landscape Lab, Departamento
de Ecologia, Instituto de Cie
ˆncias Biolo
´gicas, Universidade
Federal de Goia
´s, Campus II, Setor Itatiaia, Goia
ˆnia,
GO CEP 74001-970, Brazil
3
Department of Biological Sciences, National University of
Singapore, 14 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117543, Singapore
4
Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Cie
ˆncias Biolo
´gicas,
Pre
´dio 5, Universidade Federal de Goia
´s, Campus II, Setor
Itatiaia, Goia
ˆnia, GO CEP 74001-970, Brazil
123
J Insect Conserv (2015) 19:901–910
DOI 10.1007/s10841-015-9807-0
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.

Supplementary resource (1)

Supplementary material 1
Data
October 2015
Daniel De Paiva Silva · Ana C. B. A. Macêdo · John S. Ascher · Paulo De Marco Júnior
... Previous SDMs have shown that wild bees can invade large regions when considering the effects of CC in the future (Dew et al., 2019;Silva et al., 2015;Silva et al., 2017;Silva et al., 2018;Silva et al., 2020;Velez et al., 2017). The orchid bee Eulaema nigrita (Lepeletier, 1841), a large species that is currently widely distributed in the Neotropical region, should remain in deforested areas, including areas that may become deserts, while increasing their reach in areas corresponding to the arc of deforestation due to CC (Silva et al., 2015). ...
... Previous SDMs have shown that wild bees can invade large regions when considering the effects of CC in the future (Dew et al., 2019;Silva et al., 2015;Silva et al., 2017;Silva et al., 2018;Silva et al., 2020;Velez et al., 2017). The orchid bee Eulaema nigrita (Lepeletier, 1841), a large species that is currently widely distributed in the Neotropical region, should remain in deforested areas, including areas that may become deserts, while increasing their reach in areas corresponding to the arc of deforestation due to CC (Silva et al., 2015). The bee Braunsapis puangensis (Cockerell, 1929) was accidentally introduced into Fiji, spreading rapidly across several islands and becoming locally abundant. ...
... Despite the widespread use of this method, SDMs may present concerns when considering the nature of interactions between species on macroecological scales and across large as biotic and abiotic variables interact in complex ways (Silva et al., 2018). Several studies with SDMs considering biotic interactions have shown potentially negative or neutral (Pellissier et al., 2010;Silva et al., 2015) and positive results (Araújo & Luoto, 2007;Heikkinen et al., 2007;Meier et al., 2010). In addition, SDMs consider only a fraction of the species' true initial distribution, adding inaccuracy to the final results . ...
Suitable areas for the invasion expansion of Xylocopa bees in South America
Article
The introduction of exotic species into native ecosystems can be a cause for concern when those species are invasive. Invasive species cause ecological problems and have socio‐cultural impacts on human health and the economy; for example, invasive bees may negatively impact their introduced ecosystem by spreading diseases or outcompeting native pollinators. Xylocopa spp. bees are diverse and distributed throughout the Neotropics. However, Xylocopa augusti (Lepeletier, 1841) and Xylocopa splendidula (Lepeletier, 1841) are not native to Mediterranean Chile. This study aimed to evaluate the invasive potential of these exotic species and predict the potential macroecological effects of their invasions. We also aimed to pinpoint possible distributions for these species throughout South America. We correlated biogeographic occurrence data with climatic variables for each species to model their potential distribution in both current and future scenarios. The models provide strong evidence that both species are changing their distributions: their ranges are expanding towards western South America, particularly Bolivia, Chile and Peru. We demonstrate an increase in niche overlap between these species and show there are new geographic areas vulnerable to the establishment of these invasive bees under current and future climate conditions. These data suggest that these bees may adapt their geographic distribution as the climate changes and pose a threat to native pollinators in new geographic areas.
View
... Pemberton and Wheeler (2006), determined that Euglossa (Euglossa) viridissima (Friese, 1899) established in Florida, USA, can be abundant in the absence of their mutualistic orchids, which suggests that this mutualism can be flexible, thus facilitating adaptation to new sites (Genaro et al. 2020). Climate change can also modify the distribution ranges of orchid bees and affect interactions with other species (Silva et al. 2015), but for the species reported here, this hypothesis needs to be tested with more field and laboratory work. ...
Going up: new altitudinal records of orchid bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in the inter-Andean valleys of southern Ecuador and their potential dispersal route
Article
Full-text available
  • Nov 2023
Orchid bees are a conspicuous and ecologically important group of insects, commonly distributed at medium and low altitudes in tropical ecosystems. Therefore, new recordings of orchid bees at higher altitudes are interesting. Here we report the presence of two species of orchid bees in urban and peri-urban environments within the inter-Andean valleys in the province of Azuay in southern Ecuador at more than 2,200 m. One male of Eulaema (Apeulaema) polychroma (Mocsáry, 1899) and a female of Euglossa (Euglossa) cf. charapensis Cockerell, 1917, were recorded in the city of Cuenca at 2,550 m, and several females of Eg. (Eg.) cf. charapensis in the surroundings of the city of Gualaceo at 2,264 m. These new altitude distribution records represent the highest for the genus Euglossa in Ecuador. Also, they show the great altitude dispersal capacity, and high adaptability of these insects to urban and peri-urban environments. Finally, we proposed the Jubones river basin as a potential migration route of these bees from lowland areas in the western foothills of the Andes to the inter Anden valleys of Cuenca and Gualaceo.
View
... Our specific objectives were to (1) document the relative abundances of orchid bee species at different locations in the country and (2) using our largest set (December 2016-February 2017, provide an assessment of how the distribution and diversity of orchid bees correlate with latitude, elevation, mean annual precipitation, and the presence of agricultural activities within or adjacent to sample sites. The results provide a biogeographic data-base for future studies that could identify alterations in distribution and relative abundance of orchid bees that result from changes in climate (Silva et al., 2015;Faliero, Nemésio & Loyola, 2018;Roubik et al., 2021) and land-use patterns (e.g., Rincón et al., 1999;Schüepp, Rittiner & Entling, 2012;Briggs, Perfecto & Brosi, 2013;Nemésio, Santos & Vasconcelos, 2015;Oliveira, Pinto & Schlindwein, 2015;Botsch et al., 2017;Storck-Tonon & Peres, 2017). For example, two recent studies examined trends in orchid bee communities over 40-year periods in Panama (Roubik et al., 2021) and Costa Rica (Bravo et al., 2022, who compared their results to those of Janzen et al., 1982). ...
Diversity and distribution of orchid bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae, Euglossini) in Belize
Article
Full-text available
  • Feb 2023
Background Orchid bees are abundant and widespread in the Neotropics, where males are important pollinators of orchids they visit to collect fragrant chemicals later used to court females. Assemblages of orchid bees have been intensively surveyed in parts of Central America, but less so in Belize, where we studied them during the late-wet and early-dry seasons of 2015–2020. Methods Using bottle-traps baited with chemicals known to attract a variety of orchid bee species, we conducted surveys at sites varying in latitude, historical annual precipitation, elevation, and the presence of nearby agricultural activities. Each sample during each survey period consisted of the same number of traps and the same set of chemical baits, their positions randomized along transects. Results In 86 samples, we collected 24 species in four genera: Euglossa (16 species), Eulaema (3), Eufriesea (3), and Exaerete (2). During our most extensive sampling (December 2016–February 2017), species diversity was not correlated with latitude, precipitation, or elevation; species richness was correlated only with precipitation (positively). However, a canonical correspondence analysis indicated that species composition of assemblages varied across all three environmental gradients, with species like Eufriesea concava, Euglossa imperialis , and Euglossa viridissima most common in the drier north, and Euglossa ignita, Euglossa purpurea , and Eulaema meriana more so in the wetter southeast. Other species, such as Euglossa tridentata and Eulaema cingulata , were common throughout the area sampled. Mean species diversity was higher at sites with agricultural activities than at sites separated from agricultural areas. A Chao1 analysis suggests that other species should yet be found at our sites, a conclusion supported by records from adjacent countries, as well as the fact that we often added new species with repeated surveys of the same sites up through early 2020, and with the use of alternative baits. Additional species may be especially likely if sampling occurs outside of the months/seasons that we have sampled so far.
View
... Based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios, the concentration of CO 2 and global warming will continue to increase in the coming years. Although global warming poses a serious threat to biodiversity and a challenge for conservation biology (Botkin et al., 2007), it may have a positive effect on the life cycle of some bee species (e.g., A. florea; Ghassemi-Khademi et al., 2022a); Ceratina australensis (Dew et al., 2019); Euglossa marianae (Nem esio et al., 2016); Eulaema nigrita (Silva et al., 2015) worldwide. Here, we report that climate change may also positively affect the life cycle of T. iridipennis, a tropical and thermophilic bee species. ...
Predicting the past, current, and future climate niche distribution of Tetragonula iridipennis Smith 1854 (Apidae: Meliponini) across the Indomalayan realm: insights into the impact of climate change
Article
  • Aug 2022
The distribution range of many bee species in Asia has been affected by changing climates. Ecological niche models (ENMs) have many applications for predicting the effects of such changes in climate conditions on the future species range. Tetragonula iridipennis Smith, 1854 (Apidae: Meliponini) is a tropical stingless bee distributed in some parts of the Indomalayan realm. This species is one of the most critical keystone bee pollinators across its range. We predicted its paleodistribution, current, and future ranges across the Indomalayan realm. We used the maximum entropy method to build our models in seven periods, from the last interglacial until 2070. The isothermality was the most determinant climate factor affecting the climate niche of the species. Our predictions showed that in the last glacial maximum and previous interglacial periods the extent of the climatically suitable habitats of the species was probably broader than in the current scenario. The climatic suitability of the existing range will be expanded geographically in some parts of southeast Asia and northern India by 2070 under climate scenarios. The lack of significant climate niche divergence among the populations studied, except for Indonesia-Sri Lanka, results in uniformity of the climate conditions across the species’ range and recent range expansion. With the projected spatial patterns of the climate niche of the species, future management efforts for the effective conservation of the species will be facilitated by identifying potentially suitable habitats and areas where it is more likely to survive.
View
... Due to changing climatic conditions and other anthropogenic effects, consistent sampling at various elevations is needed to track distributional changes in fauna over time. Shifting ranges are predicted as Euglossine bees respond to climate change (Silva et al. 2015) and, thus, a complete understanding of their current range will be critical for tracking future shifts. Given the co-dependent and intimate relationships between orchids and Eulossine bees, it is important to monitor populations and species of both the groups to detect future declines or recovery under restoration practices. ...
Expanded range of eight orchid bee species (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Euglossini) in Costa Rica
Article
Full-text available
  • Jul 2022
Background: The Monteverde region of Costa Rica is a hotspot of endemism and biodiversity. The region is, however, disturbed by human activities such as agriculture and urbanisation. This study provides a list of orchid bees (Hymenoptera: Euglossini) compiled from field surveys conducted during January-October 2019 in the premontane wet forest of San Luis, Monteverde, Costa Rica. We collected 36 species of Euglossine bees across four genera. We provide new geographic distribution and elevation data for eight species in two genera. Due to their critical role in the pollination of orchids and other plants, the distribution and abundance of Euglossine bees has relevance to plant biodiversity and conservation efforts. This is especially important in a region with a high diversity of difficult-to-study epiphytic orchids, such as in the Monteverde region. New information: A total of 2,742 Euglossine male individuals across four genera (Eufriesea, Eulaema, Euglossa and Exaerete) were collected in this study. Updated geographic distributions and elevation ranges were established for eight species of Euglossini in two genera: Eufrieseamussitans (Fabricius, 1787), Eufriesearufocauda (Kimsey, 1977), Euglossadodsoni (Moure, 1965), Euglossadressleri (Moure, 1968), Euglossahansoni (Moure, 1965), Euglossaignita (Smith, 1874), Euglossatridentata (Moure, 1970) and Euglossaturbinifex (Dressler, 1978). These are the first recorded occurrences of these species in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica, according to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) database (https://doi.org/10.15468/9f9kgp). This study also established expanded elevation ranges for Euglossaallosticta, Euglossabursigera, Euglossamixta, Euglossaheterosticta and Euglossamaculabris, though these five species have been previously recorded in the Monteverde region and, thus, are not described in detail here. Additionally, our capture of 123 Eufrieseaconcava individuals is significant, as it indicates its abundance in this region. Prior to this study, there was a single record of E.concava in the Monteverde region, documented in 1993.
View
... This knowledge gap is particularly notable in solitary bees, where no long-term historical studies have directly evaluated the effects of climate change on population decline or range shifts. However, Species Distribution Models (SDMs) are increasingly being used to make predictions about how bee distributions may change under future climate conditions and have reported contrasting results, particularly between xeric and temperate species (Roberts et al., 2011;Kuhlmann et al., 2012;Martins et al., 2015;Silva et al., 2015Silva et al., , 2018Biella et al., 2017;Dew et al., 2019;Gonzalez et al., 2021;Martínez-López et al., 2021). Despite their limitations related to sampling bias, imperfect detection, and abundance estimation (Guillera-Arroita et al., 2015), model-based methods provide an opportunity to work around the constraints imposed by our incomplete knowledge of species distributions, termed the Wallacean Shortfall (Lomolino, 2004;Whittaker et al., 2005;Martins et al., 2015). ...
Climate-driven range shifts of a rare specialist bee, Macropis nuda (Melittidae), and its host plant, Lysimachia ciliata (Primulaceae)
Article
Full-text available
  • Jun 2022
Earth's climate is on track to surpass the proposed mean global temperature change limit of 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels, threatening to disrupt ecosystems globally. Yet, studies on temperate bee response to climate change are limited, with most studies of non-Apis bees focusing on the eusocial genus Bombus. Here, we assess the response of a rare habitat and host plant specialist bee, Macropis nuda, to projected climate change scenarios. We use species distribution models of M. nuda and its host plant, Lysimachia ciliata, trained on publicly available occurrence records, to evaluate bee distribution and habitat suitability changes under four climate change scenarios. We find that the bee and host plant distributions respond synchronously to increased greenhouse gas emissions, which result in range-wide habitat suitability loss and a northward range shift. These results provide an important example of a temperate solitary bee's response to climate change and help inform conservation efforts to preserve pollinator biodiversity and pollinator-host plant relationships.
View
... Knowledge gaps regarding Wallacean shortfalls may be filled by species distribution models (SDMs), allowing conservationists to implement more efficient and spatialized conservation actions (Peterson et al. 2002;De Marco and Siqueira 2009;Elith and Leathwick 2009;Giannini et al. 2012). SDMs have been used in different contexts, such as (1) spatial conservation prioritization (de Marco and Nóbrega 2011), (2) biogeographic analyses (Siqueira and Durigan 2007), (3) the measurement of CC effects on biodiversity (Polasky and Solow 2001;Peterson et al. 2002;Martins et al. 2015a;Silva et al. 2015;Gonzalez et al. 2021), (4) the conservation of rare and threatened species (Araujo and Williams 2000), and (5) the detection of areas suitable for occupation by exotic species (Hinojosa-Díaz et al. 2005Silva et al. 2014;Faleiro et al. 2015). ...
Current and future distributions of a native Andean bumble bee
Article
Full-text available
Climate change (CC) is expected to negatively impact global biodiversity and ecosystems, resulting in profound ecological impacts and placing complex networks of biological interactions at risk. Despite this worrying scenario, the existing knowledge deficiencies may be overcome with species distribution models (SDMs), providing estimates of the effects of CC upon biodiversity. We evaluate the impact of CC on the distribution of the bumble bee species Bombus (Funebribombus) funebris Smith, 1854 (Apidae: Bombini) in South America. The Andean region will remain suitable for B. funebris under models of future CC. Nonetheless, the distribution range size will decrease, especially in protected areas. We believe this is due to the elevation zones preferentially occupied by the bees. The existence and prevalence of the species may be affected by anthropic actions and CC. The growing use of SDMs is critical to minimizing information deficits related to insect species and providing estimates of their distribution ranges. Implications for insect conservation: Implications for insect conservation Our results show a retraction in the future distribution range of this bumble bee, dispersing to higher elevations. Therefore, it has the potential for the loss of plant–insect interactions by affecting its crucial role in Andean pollination.
View
... Orchids rely on insect pollinators and mycorrhizal fungi to reproduce and germinate (Rasmussen, 2008;McCormick and Jacquemyn, 2014). As with other pollinator-reliant plants, allogamous Epipactis will only persist and track shifting climate if their pollinators are also able to disperse (Benning and Moeller, 2019;Shay et al., 2021), such as has been predicted for a Neotropical orchid bee which is predicted to persist and increase its habitat range under future climate change (Silva et al., 2015). Mating system was not significantly associated with changes in habitat distribution in response to climate change, indicating that in the specific case of these species, autogamous and allogamous species did differ in response to predicted climate change. ...
Range Size and Niche Breadth as Predictors of Climate-Induced Habitat Change in Epipactis (Orchidaceae)
Article
Full-text available
  • Apr 2022
While there is mounting evidence that ongoing changes in the climate system are shifting species ranges poleward and to higher altitudes, responses to climate change vary considerably between species. In general, it can be expected that species responses to climate change largely depend on how broad their ecological niches are, but evidence is still scant. In this study, we investigated the effects of predicted future climate change on the availability of suitable habitat for 14 Epipactis (Orchidaceae) species, and tested whether habitat specialists would experience greater changes in the extent of their habitats than habitat generalists. We used Maxent to model the ecological niche of each species in terms of climate, soil, elevation and land-use and projected it onto climate scenarios predicted for 2061–2080. To test the hypothesis that temperate terrestrial orchid species with small ranges or small niche breadths may be at greater risk under climate change than species with wide ranges or large niche breadths, we related niche breadth in both geographic and environmental space to changes in size and location of suitable habitat. The habitat distributions of half of the species shifted northwards in future projections. The area of suitable habitat increased for eight species but decreased for the remaining six species. If expansion at the leading edge of the distribution was not possible, the area of suitable habitat decreased for 12 species. Species with wide niche breadth in geographic space experienced greater northwards expansions and higher habitat suitability scores than species with small niche breadth. Niche breadth in environmental space was not significantly related to change in habitat distribution. Overall, these results indicate that terrestrial orchid species with a wide distribution will be more capable of shifting their distributions under climate change than species with a limited distribution, but only if they are fully able to expand into habitats at the leading edge of their distributions.
View
Climate change and carnivores: shifts in the distribution and effectiveness of protected areas in the Amazon
Article
Full-text available
  • Sep 2023
Background Carnivore mammals are animals vulnerable to human interference, such as climate change and deforestation. Their distribution and persistence are affected by such impacts, mainly in tropical regions such as the Amazon. Due to the importance of carnivores in the maintenance and functioning of the ecosystem, they are extremely important animals for conservation. We evaluated the impact of climate change on the geographic distribution of carnivores in the Amazon using Species Distribution Models (SDMs). Do we seek to answer the following questions: (1) What is the effect of climate change on the distribution of carnivores in the Amazon? (2) Will carnivore species lose or gain representation within the Protected Areas (PAs) of the Amazon in the future? Methods We evaluated the distribution area of 16 species of carnivores mammals in the Amazon, based on two future climate scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) for the year 2070. For the construction of the SDMs we used bioclimatic and vegetation cover variables (land type). Based on these models, we calculated the area loss and climate suitability of the species, as well as the effectiveness of the protected areas inserted in the Amazon. We estimated the effectiveness of PAs on the individual persistence of carnivores in the future, for this, we used the SDMs to perform the gap analysis. Finally, we analyze the effectiveness of PAs in protecting taxonomic richness in future scenarios. Results The SDMs showed satisfactory predictive performance, with Jaccard values above 0.85 and AUC above 0.91 for all species. In the present and for the future climate scenarios, we observe a reduction of potencial distribution in both future scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5), where five species will be negatively affected by climate change in the RCP 4.5 future scenario and eight in the RCP 8.5 scenario. The remaining species stay stable in terms of total area. All species in the study showed a loss of climatic suitability. Some species lost almost all climatic suitability in the RCP 8.5 scenario. According to the GAP analysis, all species are protected within the PAs both in the current scenario and in both future climate scenarios. From the null models, we found that in all climate scenarios, the PAs are not efficient in protecting species richness.
View
Mapping the changing distribution of two important pollinating giant honeybees across 21000 years
Article
Full-text available
  • Sep 2022
Pollinators play an important role in ecosystems, but global climate change threatens the diversity and geographical distribution of pollinators. Bees are some of the most important pollinators and are particularly sensitive to climate change and environmental change. Apis laboriosa and Apis dorsata are two species of giant honeybees distributed in Asia, and play important roles in their ecosystems. In this study, we analyzed the key factors affecting the distribution of two species, as well as their potential suitable areas and possible co-existence regional changes under the global climate change. We collected and filtered global distribution data of A. laboriosa and A. dorsata, then used eight climatic variables and Community Climate System Model version 4 (CCSM4) to simulate their potential suitable areas for the past, present and future (using two different climate scenarios) using MaxEnt. Finally, we used ArcGIS 10.2 and ENMTools to calculate range overlap and niche overlap of the two species in order to infer areas of co-existence. Temperature-related variables had the largest contribution to the model simulation. Among these variables, temperature seasonality (Bio 4) and mean temperature of coldest quarter (Bio 11) showed the strongest influence on the distributions of two giant honeybees. Under the current climate scenario, the species overlap in Nepal and Yunnan of China, with low niche overlap index. Between the last-glacial maximum to the present both honeybees moved northwest to their present range. A. laboriosa is projected to move to the northeast and A. dorsata may move southeast. Only 6.6% of overlapping distribution is currently protected, and further work is needed to protect these key areas.
View
New developments in museum-based informatics and aplications in biodiversity analysis.
Article
Full-text available
Information from natural history collections (NHCs) about the diversity, taxonomy and historical distributions of species worldwide is becoming increasingly available over the Internet. In light of this relatively new and rapidly increasing resource, we critically review its utility and limitations for addressing a diverse array of applications. When integrated with spatial environmental data, NHC data can be used to study a broad range of topics, from aspects of ecological and evolutionary theory, to applications in conservation, agriculture and human health. There are challenges inherent to using NHC data, such as taxonomic inaccuracies and biases in the spatial coverage of data, which require consideration. Promising research frontiers include the integration of NHC data with information from comparative genomics and phylogenetics, and stronger connections between the environmental analysis of NHC data and experimental and field-based tests of hypotheses.
View
Adding Biotic Interactions into Paleodistribution Models: A Host- Cleptoparasite Complex of Neotropical Orchid Bees
Article
Full-text available
Orchid bees compose an exclusive Neotropical pollinators group, with bright body colora- tion. Several of those species build their own nests, while others are reported as nest clep- toparasites. Here, the objective was to evaluate whether the inclusion of a strong biotic interaction, such as the presence of a host species, improved the ability of species distri- butionmodels (SDMs) to predict the geographic range of the cleptoparasite species. The target species were Aglae caerulea and its host species Eulaema nigrita. Additionally, since A. caerulea is more frequently found in the Amazon rather than the Cerrado areas, a secondary objective was to evaluate whether this species is increasing or decreasing its distribution given South American past and current climatic conditions. SDMs methods (Maxent and Bioclim), in addition with current and past South American climatic condi- tions, as well as the occurrences for A. caerulea and E. nigrita were used to generate the distribution models. The distribution of A. caerulea was generated with and without the inclusion of the distribution of E. nigrita as a predictor variable. The results indicate A. caerulea was barely affected by past climatic conditions and the populations from the Cerrado savanna could be at least 21,000 years old (the last glacial maximum), as well as the Amazonian ones. On the other hand, in this study, the inclusion of the host-cleptoparasite inter- action complex did not statistically improve the quality of the produced models, which means that the geographic range of this cleptoparasite species is mainly constrained by climate and not by the presence of the host species. Nonetheless, this could also be caused by unknown complexes of other Euglossini hosts with A. caerulea, which still are still needed to be described by science.
View
AUC: A misleading measure of the performance of predictive distribution models
Article
Full-text available
  • Jan 2008
The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, known as the AUC, is currently considered to be the standard method to assess the accuracy of predictive distribution models. It avoids the supposed subjectivity in the threshold selection process, when continuous probability derived scores are converted to a binary presence–absence variable, by summarizing overall model performance over all possible thresholds. In this manuscript we review some of the features of this measure and bring into question its reliability as a comparative measure of accuracy between model results. We do not recommend using AUC for five reasons: (1) it ignores the predicted probability values and the goodness-of-fit of the model; (2) it summarises the test performance over regions of the ROC space in which one would rarely operate; (3) it weights omission and commission errors equally; (4) it does not give information about the spatial distribution of model errors; and, most importantly, (5) the total extent to which models are carried out highly influences the rate of well-predicted absences and the AUC scores.
View
Changes in Orchid Bee Communities Across Forest- Agroecosystem Boundaries in Brazilian Atlantic Forest Landscapes
Article
Full-text available
  • Aug 2015
Deforestation has dramatically reduced the extent of Atlantic Forest cover in Brazil. Orchid bees are key pollinators in neotropical forest, and many species are sensitive to anthropogenic interference. In this sense understanding the matrix permeability for these bees is important for maintaining genetic diversity and pollination services. Our main objective was to assess whether the composition, abundance, and diversity of orchid bees in matrices differed from those in Atlantic forest. To do this we sampled orchid bees at 4-mo intervals from 2007 to 2009 in remnants of Atlantic Forest, and in the surrounding pasture and eucalyptus matrices. The abundance, richness, and diversity of orchid bees diminished significantly from the forest fragment toward the matrix points in the eucalyptus and pasture. Some common or intermediate species in the forest areas, such as Eulaema cingulata (F.) and Euglossa fimbriata Moure, respectively, become rare species in the matrices. Our results show that the orchid bee community is affected by the matrices surrounding the forest fragments. They also suggest that connections between forest fragments need to be improved using friendly matrices that can provide more favorable conditions for bees and increase their dispersal between fragments. © The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
View
Adding Biotic Interactions into Paleodistribution Models: A Host-Cleptoparasite Complex of Neotropical Orchid Bees
Data
Full-text available
Orchid bees compose an exclusive Neotropical pollinators group, with bright body coloration. Several of those species build their own nests, while others are reported as nest cleptoparasites. Here, the objective was to evaluate whether the inclusion of a strong biotic interaction, such as the presence of a host species, improved the ability of species distribution models (SDMs) to predict the geographic range of the cleptoparasite species. The target species were Aglae caerulea and its host species Eulaema nigrita. Additionally, since A. caerulea is more frequently found in the Amazon rather than the Cerrado areas, a secondary objective was to evaluate whether this species is increasing or decreasing its distribution given South American past and current climatic conditions. SDMs methods (Maxent and Bioclim), in addition with current and past South American climatic conditions, as well as the occurrences for A. caerulea and E. nigrita were used to generate the distribution models. The distribution of A. caerulea was generated with and without the inclusion of the distribution of E. nigrita as a predictor variable. The results indicate A. caerulea was barely affected by past climatic conditions and the populations from the Cerrado savanna could be at least 21,000 years old (the last glacial maximum), as well as the Amazonian ones. On the other hand, in this study, the inclusion of the host-cleptoparasite interaction complex did not statistically improve the quality of the produced models, which means that the geographic range of this cleptoparasite species is mainly constrained by climate and not by the presence of the host species. Nonetheless, this could also be caused by unknown complexes of other Euglossini hosts with A. caerulea, which still are still needed to be described by science.
View
Using Range-Wide Abundance Modeling to Identify Key Conservation Areas for the Micro-Endemic Bolson Tortoise (Gopherus flavomarginatus)
Article
Full-text available
A widespread biogeographic pattern in nature is that population abundance is not uniform across the geographic range of species: most occurrence sites have relatively low numbers, whereas a few places contain orders of magnitude more individuals. The Bolson tortoise Gopherus flavomarginatus is endemic to a small region of the Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico, where habitat deterioration threatens this species with extinction. In this study we combined field burrows counts and the approach for modeling species abundance based on calculating the distance to the niche centroid to obtain range-wide abundance estimates. For the Bolson tortoise, we found a robust, negative relationship between observed burrows abundance and distance to the niche centroid, with a predictive capacity of 71%. Based on these results we identified four priority areas for the conservation of this microendemic and threatened tortoise. We conclude that this approach may be a useful approximation for identifying key areas for sampling and conservation efforts in elusive and rare species.
View
View
Euglossa marianae sp. n. (Hymenoptera: Apidae): A new orchid bee from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and the possible first documented local extinction of a forest-dependent orchid bee
Article
The orchid bee faunas of Floresta Nacional do Rio Preto, Reserva Biológica Córrego Grande, and Reserva Biológica Córrego do Veado, in the northernmost portion of the state of Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil, were surveyed for orchid bees for the first time. A total of 1,603 males belonging to 24 species were attracted to 16 different scent baits and actively collected with insect nets during 100 hours from December, 2009, to February, 2010. One species of Euglossa, known as strongly dependent on well preserved mature forests, once recorded at the region, was not found in this survey and may indicate the first documented local extinction of an orchid bee species. This species, which Atlantic Forest population has been treated as Euglossa analis Westwood, 1840, is here considered a new species, Euglossa marianae sp. n.
View
Orchid bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest
Article
  • Mar 2009
A detailed synopsis of all the orchid-bee species known to occur in the Atlantic Forest Domain, eastern Brazil, is provided, including synonymy, complete type data, diagnoses, relevant data on biology and geographic distribution (with detailed localities of known occurrence of each species), colorful illustrations of onomatophores ("name-bearing type specimens"), and a list with the main references dealing with each species. Fifty-four species are recognized to occur in the Atlantic Forest Domain. Identification keys are presented for each genus and their species occurring in the Atlantic Forest. Euglossa carinilabris Dressier, 1982, Euglossa cyanaspis Moure, 1968, Eulaema (Eulaema) niveofasciata (Friese, 1899) and Exaerete lepeletieri Oliveira & Nemesio, 2003, considered junior synonyms of other species by different authors, are reinstated as valid species. A full discussion on the status of the four orchid-bee species described by Linnaeus is presented, as well as colorful illustrations of the four onomatophores. The two existing onomatophores of orchid bee species described by Fabricius are also illustrated and his Apis cingulata has been shown to be the species recently described as Eulaema (Apeulaema) pseudocingulata Oliveira, 2006, which, thus, becomes a junior synonym (syn. n.). Euglossa aratingae sp. n., Euglossa Carolina sp. n., Euglossa nanomelanotricha sp. n., Euglossa roderici sp. n., Euglossa roubiki sp. n., Eulaema (Eulaema) atleticana sp. n., and Eulaema (Apeulaema) marcii sp. n. are described as new species. Neotypes are designated for Eufriesea violacea (Blanchard, 1840) and Exaerete frontalis (Guérin- Méneville, 1844). Some corrections concerning the repository institutions of some onomatophores of orchid bees were also made: Eufriesea auriceps (Friese, 1899) holotype has been listed as belonging to the US National Museum (Washington) or to the American Museum of Natural History (New York) but, in fact, it belongs to the Zoologisches Museum der Humboldt Universität (Berlin); the lectotype of Eufriesea aeneiventris (Mocsáry, 1896) has been listed as belonging to the Istituto e Museo di Zoologia, Universita di Torino (Turin), but it actually belongs to the Hungarian Museum of Natural History (Budapest). Publication dates of both Exaerete frontalis Guérin-Méneville and Exaerete smaragdina Guérin- Méneville have been listed as 1845 but, in fact, the actual date is 1844. Based on the known geographic distribution and abundance of each species in orchid-bee inventories, IUCN criteria were applied and three species are recommended to be included in future lists of threatened species in one of the IUCN categories of risk: Eufriesea brasilianorum (Friese, 1899) and Euglossa cognata Moure, 1970 are suggested to be listed as "vulnerable", and Euglossa cyanocholora Moure, 1996 is suggested to be listed as "endangered". A fully annotated check list of all known orchid bee species is also presented as an Appendix.
View
View