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Web End = J Insect Conserv (2016) 20:10691085 DOI 10.1007/s10841-016-9945-z
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Web End = Patterns ofdiversity oflower-visitor assemblages totheunderstory Araceae inatropical mountain forest inColombia
LauraGmez-Murillo1 SandraE.Cuartas-Hernndez1
Abstract In the Araceae, pollination biology has been extensively evaluated in several genera mainly in lowland tropical areas. However, the inluence of physical factors such as elevation or precipitation on plant/lower-visitor interactions at the community level remains challenging for this plant family, speciically in tropical mountain forests. The aim of this study was to analyze how the species diversity and abundance of lowering Araceae and their lower-visitor assemblages change along an elevation gradient and through time, in response to changes in mean monthly precipitation in a tropical mountain forest located in Jardn, Antioquia, Colombia. Eighteen lowering Araceae species and loral visitors belonging to seven orders were recorded. Flower-visitor diversity decreased with elevation. A trend of increasing lowering Araceae and lower-visitor abundance richness at intermediate levels of precipitation was observed. Diptera were dominant in the lower part and Thysanoptera were dominant in the upper part of the gradient. The pattern of plant species distribution along the elevation and the amount of precipitation inluenced the availability of lower resources, and, as a consequence, afected the spatial and temporal composition of lower-visitor assemblages. Local strategies for the conservation of the diversity of insect lower-visitors and their interactions should be focused on the implementation of agricultural
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10841-016-9945-z
Web End =10.1007/s10841-016-9945-z ) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
* Sandra E. Cuartas-Hernndez [email protected]; [email protected]
1 Instituto de Biologa, Universidad de Antioquia, Calle 67 N 53-108, Bloque 7 Oicina 108, Medelln, Antioquia, Colombia
Received: 13 May 2016 / Accepted: 25 November 2016 / Published online: 1 December 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
practices that reduce the use of pesticides within adjacent commercial plantations and the avoidance of illegal clearings, maintaining unbroken elevational gradients of forest, which is the only way to protect the lowering resources for anthophilous insects. At the same time, continuous forest promotes the maintenance of macro and microclimatic conditions, preserving the stability of insect populations and diversity amongst several functional groups.
Keywords Aroid Anthurium Elevation gradient
Mean monthly precipitation Thysanoptera Xanthosoma
Introduction
Interactions between plants and...