DOI: 10.5061/dryad.s7h44j1k3
title: Effect of land use change on Melolonthidae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) beetle communities in the deforestation arc of the Brazilian Amazon

description: Although Amazon provides crucial goods and ecosystem services for
 humanity, the alarming conversion of its original ecosystem due to
 agricultural activities challenges the maintenance of biodiversity in this
 rainforest. Beetles from the family Melolonthidae serve as a proxy for
 assessing the effect of land use change on biodiversity. In this study, we
 evaluated the effect of land use changes on the entire Melolonthidae
 community (species richness, abundance, and biomass) and on each subfamily
 (Rutelinae, Melolonthinae, and Dynastinae). Peach palm Bactris gasipaes
 Kunth (Arecaceae) plantation, coffee Coffea canephora Pierre ex A.
 Froehner (Rubiaceae) plantation, pasture Urochloa decumbens Stapf.
 (Poaceae), Forest remnants had their Melolonthidae communities assessed in
 a southern Amazon region. Forest remnants encompassed a higher species
 richness of the Melolonthidae and Rutelinae compared to the other
 habitats, while pasture areas had a higher abundance of Melolonthidae,
 Dynastinae, and Melolonthinae, as well as a higher biomass of the last
 group. Coffee plantation presented the lowest species richness, abundance,
 and biomass for all taxonomic levels studied. The results provide evidence
 that the Melolonthidae beetle community, especially Rutelinae, is
 negatively affected by land use change in the Amazon, reinforcing the role
 of these beetles in conservation studies. Pasture areas are favorable
 habitats for some species of the Dynastinae and Melolonthinae subfamilies,
 which suggests that they may be pests in this ecosystem. Future population
 studies are necessary to broaden our understanding of this group of
 insects.
description: <em>Study area</em> This study was
 carried out in Juína municipality, which is located in the Amazonian ‘arc
 of deforestation’, in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil (11°25’ S; 58°46’
 W; 320 m a.s.l., see Figures 1a and 1b). The climate of the region is a
 transition between tropical monsoon (Am) and tropical warm and humid (Aw)
 according to the Köppen classification (Alvares et al., 2014). The region
 has ca. 2,000 mm of mean annual rainfall and a mean temperature of 24 °C,
 ranging between 20 and 40 °C (Batistão et al., 2013). There are two marked
 seasons: the dry season (from May to September, with less than 100 mm of
 mean monthly rainfall) and the rainy season (from October to April, with
 ca. 330 mm of mean monthly rainfall (Alvares et al., 2014). The dominant
 physiognomy is <em>terra firme</em>, a non-floodable evergreen
 rainforest; besides <em>terra firme</em>, there are floodable
 patches of tropical rainforest (<em>várzea</em>).
 Therefore, this study was performed in a conserved forest and
 three other habitat types representing the non-native land use types of
 the Juína Amazonian region: peach palm- and coffee plantations and
 pasturelands (Figure 1c). (i) Conserved forests are
 forest fragments ranging from 78 to 790 ha that are located in
 conservation units. They had minor signs of anthropogenic activities (e.g.
 logging) and common Amazonian plant species, such as
 <em>Bertholletia excelsa</em> Bonpl., 1808 (Lecythidaceae),
 cedro <em>Cedrela fissilis</em> Vell., 1829 (Meliaceae),
 sumaúma <em>Ceiba pentandra</em> Gaertn., 1791 (Malvaceae),
 copaíba <em>Copaifera glycycarpa</em> Ducke, 1933 (Fabaceae),
 tamburil <em>Enterolobium contortisiliquum</em> (Vell.)
 Morong, 1893 (Fabaceae), ipê-amarelo-da-mata <em>Handroanthus
 serratifolius</em> (Vahl) S.O.Grose, 2007 (Bignoniaceae), jatobá
 <em>Hymenaea courbaril</em> L., 1753 (Fabaceae) and ingá-cipó
 <em>Inga edulis</em> Mart., 1837 (Fabaceae).
 (ii) Peach palm (<em>B. gasipaes</em>) plantations
 were established between 2012 and 2016, and such habitats range from 0.5
 to 5 ha. Peach palm plantations comprised plants set 1 m apart from each
 other in line transects with 2 m between lines, resulting in a density of
 5,000 peach palm plants/ha. Each plant reached about 3 m in height,
 resulting in a closed-canopy vegetation structure. Palm heart extractivism
 of peach palm<em>s</em> occurs when plants reach ca. 1.70 m of
 height. Such extraction is performed every four months, and after cutting,
 the producer generally manages thinning so that there are only three
 vigorous tillers per clump. (iii) Coffee plantations
 encompassed the conilon/robusta species (<em>C.
 canephora</em>), and their areas ranged between 2.1 to 9.2 ha.
 Plants spaced 3 × 2 m between them, which resulted in a density of 1,666
 coffee plants/ha. Land management was performed to control plant pests and
 diseases, as well as to fertilize soils.
 (iv) Pasturelands comprised the exotic pasture <em>U.
 decumbens</em> set from 8 to 22 years before this study. This
 habitat has areas ranging from 4.5 to 10 ha, and no fertilizer has been
 applied to these pasturelands. Cattle that inhabit these pasturelands are
 vaccinated against aphthous fever and brucellosis, and ivermectin,
 doramectin, and oral vermifuges (albendazole) are also used to control
 cattle parasites. <em>Beetle
 sampling</em> Melolonthidae beetles were sampled
 monthly between November 2021 and October 2022. Each habitat type
 (conserved forest, peach palm, coffee plantations, and pasturelands) was
 sampled in four distinct sites, spaced at least 1 km between them,
 totaling 16 replicates. Detailed information on each of the 16 replicates,
 such as coordinates and size in hectares, can be found in Table S1. This
 study had an effort of 192 samples (12 months <em>×</em> 4
 habitat types <em>×</em> 4 sites). One
 light trap (rechargeable 100 W LED light) was set in the center of each of
 the 16 study sites to sample Melolonthidae. These light traps were adapted
 from “Luiz de Queiroz” traps (Figure S1), being successfully used to
 attract Melolonthidae beetles (Buss, 2006; Aragón-García et al., 2008;
 García-López et al., 2011). Traps were left in the field for 12 hrs –
 between 18:00 and 6:00 of the following day. The insects were deposited in
 plastic bags with alcohol 70% and subsequently sorted in the biology
 laboratories of Instituto Federal de Ciência, Educação e Tecnologia de
 Mato Grosso (IFMT), Campus Juína. Melolonthidae beetles
 were identified at the genus level with the aid of taxonomic keys (Cherman
 & Morón, 2014; Cherman et al., 2019; Duarte & Grossi,
 2024; Evans, 2003; Frey, 1973; Krajcik, 2008; Morón, 1990), and species
 were identified with the aid of one of the coauthors (FZVM). Individuals
 were deposited in the Entomological Collection of Universidade Federal do
 Mato Grosso (CEMT – UFMT) (Cuiabá, MT, Brazil) and in the Entomological
 Collection of IFMT (Juína, MT, Brazil). To record the biomass of species,
 all collected individuals were dried (40 ± 5 °C) and weighed on a 0.0001 g
 precision balance. <em>Data
 analysis</em> To estimate the sampling efficiency
 of Melolonthidae in each habitat type, iNEXT's sampling coverage
 approach was used (Chao et al., 2014; Hsieh et al., 2016) with iNEXT
 online software. This is a measure of sample completeness and reveals the
 proportion of the total number of individuals in a community that belong
 to the species represented in the sample. (Hsieh et al., 2016).
 <em><strong>Effects of habitat type on Melolonthidae
 assemblage</strong></em> The following
 analyses were performed separately for the entire Melolonthidae assemblage
 and for each collected subfamily (Dynastinae, Melolonthinae, and
 Rutelinae). The Sericinae subfamily was not analyzed separately due to the
 limited data for this group (see Supplementary Material, Table S2).
 Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs) were used to assess the effect of
 habitat types (conserved forest, peach palm- and coffee plantations,
 pastureland – predictor variables) on Melolonthidae species richness,
 abundance, and biomass (response variables). Habitat type was considered
 the fixed factor, and the months of collection were considered the random
 factor in the model. To select the best-suited models, residual analyses
 were tested on GLMMs (Crawley, 2013). After that, contrast analyses were
 performed to test the difference between pairs (Crawley, 2013). GLMM
 analyses were done in RStudio software, version 4.3.3 (R Core Team,
 2023). The effect of habitat type on Melolonthidae
 assemblage structure (i.e., species distribution and abundance) was tested
 with Permutational Analysis of Variances (PERMANOVA). This statistical
 approach was run with 999 permutations (Anderson, 2001). In order to test
 the differences in the multivariate dispersion of data from each habitat
 type, Permutational Multivariate Analysis of Dispersion (PERMDISP)
 (Anderson, 2001) was used. The PERMDISP results are reported as the
 average within-group distance of each group point from its centroid.
 Detection of statistical differences in inter-group variability can be
 used as a viable test for changes in beta diversity between habitat types
 (Anderson 2006; Anderson et al. 2006). To visually explore the groupings
 of Melolonthidae data and each subfamily separately, Non-Metric
 Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) was used (Anderson & Willis,
 2003). PERMANOVA, PERMDISP, and NMDS were performed based on the
 Bray-Curtis similarity matrix, which is sensitive to species abundance
 data. Data were square-root transformed in square root to avoid bias that
 could be caused due to the superabundant species. PERMANOVA, PERMDISP, and
 NMDS were done in Primer software, version 6.0 (Clarke & Gorley,
 2006). Indicator Value (IndVal) was used to determine
 the species indicator potential of each studied habitat (Dufrêne and
 Legendre, 1997). IndVal considers species fidelity and relative
 distribution in each treatment (i.e., habitat type). In this study, 5,000
 randomizations were performed to estimate the indicator value of each
 Melolonthidae species (Monte Carlo test; <em>p</em> &lt;
 0.05). IndVal was performed in the ‘indiespecies’ package in R Studio
 version 4.4.3  (Cáceres et al., 2022; R Core Team, 2023).
description: # Effect of land use change on Melolonthidae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea)
 beetle communities in the deforestation arc of the Brazilian Amazon
 Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.s7h44j1k3](10.5061/dryad.s7h44j1k3) ##
 Description of the data and file structure This database contains the
 supplementary material, the raw data used to analyse the data of the
 manuscript, as well as the statistics. In this dryad file, we will clarify
 the meaning of each data point and table. ### Files and variables ####
 File: 22.05.25Supplementary_material.docx **Description:**  In the
 following lines, we have explained column data that are not
 self-explanatory in the tables of this Dryad file. In table S1: * Area:
 Replicate unit of each habitat (coffee, peach palm, pasture, forest). * S:
 Coordinates of the southern part of the studied areas. * N: Coordinates of
 the northern hemisphere of the studied areas. In Table S2: * Distribution:
 Data-type distribution used in the statistical model. * Chi: Chi-square
 value of the statistical model. In table S3:  * CO 1 ~ PP4: Replicate of
 each habitat, with species distribution and abundance in each one. CO =
 coffee plantation; FO = forest; PA =pasture; PP = peach palm plantation.
 #### File: Table_S1.csv **Description:**  Geographical location and area
 size of different habitats. * Area: Replicate unit of each habitat
 (coffee, peach palm, pasture, forest). * S: Coordinates of the southern
 part of the studied areas. * N: Coordinates of the northern hemisphere of
 the studied areas. #### File: Table_S2.csv **Description:**  Deviance
 table of generalized linear models with the independent variables (types
 of habitats: forest, pasture, peach palm plantation, and coffee
 plantation) and the dependent variables (species richness, abundance, and
 biomass) of the assemblage of Melolonthidae and three subfamilies
 (Dynastinae, Melolonthinae, and Rutelinae) in an Amazon region. *
 Distribution: Data-type distribution used in the statistical model. * Chi:
 Chi-square value of the statistical model. #### File: Table_S3.csv
 **Description:**  Number of individuals of each species per area and
 result of sample coverage. CO = coffee plantation; FO = forest; PA
 =pasture; PP = peach palm plantation. * CO 1 ~ PP4: Replicate of each
 habitat, with species distribution and abundance in each one. CO = coffee
 plantation; FO = forest; PA =pasture; PP = peach palm plantation. ####
 File: Table_S4.csv **Description:**  Results of the PERMANOVA and PERMDISP
 pairwise tests to examine differences in species composition of the total
 Melolonthidae beetle assemblage between different habitats in the Amazon
 biome. #### File: Table_S5.csv **Description:**  Results of the pairwise
 PERMANOVA and PERMDISP test to examine differences in the composition of
 Subfamily Dynastinae species between different habitats in the Amazon
 biome. #### File: Table_S6.csv **Description:**  Results of the PERMANOVA
 and PERMDISP pairwise tests to examine differences in species composition
 of the Melolonthinae subfamily between different habitats in the Amazon
 biome. #### File: Table_S7.csv **Description:**  Results of the PERMANOVA
 and PERMDISP pairwise tests to examine differences in species composition
 of the Rutelinae subfamily between different habitats in the Amazon biome.
 ## Code/software * For table S2, RStudio software version 4.3.3 was used.
 * For tables S4, S5, S6, and S7, Primer software version 6.0 was used. ##
 Access information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: *
 None. Data was derived from the following sources: * None.