Abstract

RANGEL-ACOSTA, Jorge Luis; MARTINEZ-HERNANDEZ, Neis José  and  YONOFF-ZAPATA, Ronald. Response of dung beetles (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) to habitat modification caused by a forest fire in the Bijibana Reserve, Atlántico-Colombia. Rev. Mex. Biodiv. [online]. 2020, vol.91, e912879.  Epub Mar 01, 2021. ISSN 2007-8706.  https://doi.org/10.22201/ib.20078706e.2020.91.2879.

Fire as a tool in soil preparation for agriculture and livestock is a practice commonly used by farmers. However, these can cause forest fires of great consequences on fauna and flora. For this reason, this study evaluated the response of the dung beetles community to habitat modification caused by a forest fire in the Bijibana Reserve, Atlántico-Colombia. Two samplings were conducted on a forest fragment and 2 surrounding habitats (pasture and hedgerow) after the fire, and were compared with data collected in those places before the fire. 14,307 individuals comprising 22 species were collected. High values of species richness, diversity and biomass were observed in the forest before the fire and the lowest in the same place after the incident. Some Scarabaeinae species experienced significant decreases on their abundances after the forest fire; while others enhanced their number of individuals and a small group did not show changes in its abundance. The results demonstrate the negative effect of forest fires on the richness, abundance, diversity and biomass of dung beetles species. However, in an individual context, some species were benefited for the disturbance, enhancing its number of individuals and taking over sectors of the reserve where they were absent before.

Keywords : Abundance; Bioindicator; Biomass; Habitats; Tropical dry forest; First rains.

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