10.5061/DRYAD.V0N1P
Staude, Ingmar R.
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Vélez-Martin, Eduardo
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Andrade, Bianca O.
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Podgaiski, Luciana Regina
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Boldrini, Ilsi I.
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Mendonça Jr., Milton
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Pillar, Valério D.
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Overbeck, Gerhard E.
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Data from: Local biodiversity erosion in South Brazilian grasslands under
moderate levels of landscape habitat loss
Dryad
dataset
2018
Ants
resource diversity
nestedness
land use conversion
2018-11-14T00:00:00Z
2018-11-14T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13067
1278049 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
1.Habitat loss is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, exerting
negative effects on the ecological viability of natural vegetation
remnants. The South Brazilian grasslands belong to one of the largest
temperate grassland regions in the world, but have lost 50% of their
natural extent in the past 35 years. To date, there is no empirical
evidence for the effects of habitat loss on these grasslands’ biological
diversity, undermining their conservation. 2.Using data from a large-scale
biodiversity survey, we asked if local plant communities respond to levels
of habitat loss representative of the entire region (≤50%). Vegetation in
grassland remnants was sampled in 24 landscapes at three localities each,
using 9 plots per locality. To investigate whether species losses were a
consequence of stochastic or nonrandom local extinctions and whether plant
communities became more homogenized, we evaluated species richness,
beta-diversity components (spatial turnover and nestedness), and
phylogenetic diversity, in respect to landscape change. In part of the
landscapes, arthropods were sampled to investigate if loss of plant
diversity had a cascading effect on other trophic levels. We evaluated
generic richness of ants, an omnivore group with high levels of plant
associations, in respect to a plant community's phylogenetic
diversity. 3.Local plant communities in landscapes with less grassland
cover had fewer species, less spatial turnover, increased nestedness and
lower phylogenetic diversity. Our results suggest that the observed
species loss can be linked to taxonomic homogenization and is nonrandom,
decreasing evolutionary diversity within the community. Furthermore, ant
richness declined by 50% in plant communities with the lowest phylogenetic
diversity, suggesting that effects of habitat loss propagate to higher
trophic levels. 4.Policy implications. We conclude that the biological
diversity of South Brazilian grasslands, at the producer and consumer
level, is at risk under the current rate of land use conversion, even at
habitat losses below 50%. To avoid substantial biodiversity loss,
conservation and more restrictive policies for conversion of native
grasslands to different land uses in South Brazil are urgent.
Plant and ant communities along a habitat loss gradientThe file consists
of three sheets: "Plants", "Ants" and
"Gradient". Plants and Ants are sites x species matrices. Sites
are structured as following: "Landscape" is the landscape
sampling region (2 x 2 km), in which 3 local sampling units (70 x 70 m),
"Unit", are allocated. For Plants each "Unit" is
sampled with 9 plots, "Plot". Gradient contains the percentage
of grassland remnants, "percent_remGrassland", and the
"Latitude" and "Longituted" of each
"Landscape".Data.xlsx