DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2547d7x29
title: How does the transformation of Cerrado vegetation into exotic pastures affect insect communities? A meta-analysis

description: Cerrado is the largest and most biodiverse savannah worldwide. However,
 only a reduced amount of this ecosystem is conserved, and in the last
 decades, the vast agricultural expansion resulted in the substitution of
 native vegetation for exotic pasturelands. Insects are key components for
 both native and exotic ecosystems in Cerrado, performing critical
 functions for ecosystem maintenance. Our goal was to evaluate how the
 transformation of natural Cerrado into cattle pastures (exotic pastures)
 affects the insect communities in this biome. We conducted a meta-analysis
 using data on species richness and abundance data of insect assemblages
 from conserved Cerrado and exotic pastures. The analysis was based on a
 set of 25 scientific articles. Fourteen studies focused on Coleoptera and
 nine on Hymenoptera. Conserved Cerrado encompassed a higher species
 richness of insects than exotic pastures, but their abundance did not
 differ between these two habitats. However, dung beetle abundance
 increases significantly in disturbed Cerrado over time. Synanthropic
 species that thrive in altered environments could be masking the actual
 decline in abundance of species sensitive to environmental disturbances
 provoked by exotic pastures. Our results highlight the consequences of the
 structural homogenization of the Cerrado into cattle pastures. That is,
 despite having a similar open-canopy vegetation structure, this land-use
 change leads to a significant loss of insect species, resulting in a
 drastic simplification of insect communities. This study reinforces the
 importance of maintaining native Cerrado patches in order to maintain
 diverse and functional ecosystems in this region.
description: <strong>Literature search</strong>
 We conducted a systematic search of peer-reviewed literature
 using the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases to investigate the
 effects of Cerrado conversion into exotic pastures on insect communities.
 The search was performed during the second half of 2023 and included
 articles published from 1984 to 2023. The following search terms were
 used: (“pasture*” OR “introduced pasture*” OR “livestock*” OR “land use*”
 OR “land-use*”) AND (“land-use change*” OR “land-use modif*” OR
 “Anthro*" “disturb*” OR “Disturb*” OR “Anthropiza*”) AND (“Brazilian
 Cerrado*” OR “Brazilian Savanna*” OR “Cerrado*” OR “native grassland*” OR
 “natural grassland*”) AND (“insect*” OR “bioindicator*” OR “ant*” OR
 “beetle*” OR “flies*” OR “fly*” OR “invertebrate*” OR “termite*” OR
 “butterfl*” OR “moth*” OR “Lepidotper*” OR “Hymenopt*” OR “bee*” OR
 “Coleopt*” OR “dragonfl*” OR “Odonat*” OR “Isopter*”). A complementary
 search was conducted in SciELO-Brazil (https://www.scielo.br/) to include
 articles in Portuguese. The same keywords used in the main search were
 translated into Portuguese (“pasto*” OR “pasto introduzido*” OR
 “pecuária*” OR “uso do solo*”) AND (“mudança do uso do solo*” OR
 “Antro*" “disturb*” OR “Disturb*” OR “Antropiza*”) AND (“Cerrado
 brasileiro*” OR “Savana brasileira*” OR “Cerrado*” OR “campos nativos*” OR
 “campos naturais*”) AND (“inset*” OR “bioindicador*” OR “formiga*” OR
 “besouro*” OR “mosca*” OR “invertebrados*” OR “cupins*” OR “borboleta*” OR
 “mariposa*” OR “Lepidotper*” OR “Hymenopt*” OR “abelha*” OR “Coleopt*” OR
 “libelula*” OR “Odonat*” OR “Isopter*”).
 <strong>Inclusion criteria and screening
 protocol</strong> After removing duplicates, the
 search yielded 594 publications (Fig. A.1). A study was included in our
 database if it met the following criteria: the research focused on the
 diversity or abundance of terrestrial insect communities within the
 Cerrado ecosystem, the study featured both a control group, comprising
 conserved Cerrado, and a treatment group, consisting of exotic pastures.
 We chose 39 papers for comprehensive assessment in accordance with the
 PRISMA declaration (Page et al., 2021; Fig. A.1). The complementary search
 yielded a total of 101 results. Titles and abstracts were screened to
 assess thematic relevance, and full texts of potentially eligible studies
 were examined to confirm eligibility. After this process, only one article
 in Portuguese was selected for a full review.
 <strong>Data extraction</strong>
 We extracted the following information from the selected
 literature: a) taxonomic identity and abundance of the insects reported in
 each study; b) sample size (n), represented by the number of replicates of
 each sampled habitat type (i.e., Cerrado and exotic pasture); c) measures
 of variability for diversity or abundance data, including standard error,
 standard deviation, or any other form of variance; d) geospatial data,
 encompassing specific location of each study; and e) the year the data was
 collected, as reported in each paper. When the means and/or variance data
 was not explicitly expressed in the text of a given study, then we
 extracted this data from the figures. Hozo et al.’s (2005) approach was
 used to obtain the means and standard deviations when a paper provided
 variance data such as medians and interquartile range. We omitted only two
 papers because they were single-site studies lacking any measure of
 variance.
description: # How does the transformation of Cerrado vegetation into exotic pastures
 affect insect communities? A meta-analysis
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2547d7x29](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2547d7x29) ## Description of the data and file structure The methods used to collect the data are detailed in the materials and methods section of the article. ### Files and variables #### File: MetaData\_Cerrado\_Correa\_etal\_2024.xlsx **Description:** This database contains the raw data used to calculate the effect sizes employed in the analyses. The matrix is mostly self-explanatory. However, in this section, we will clarify the meaning of each data point based on the column names ##### Variables * **ID**: Unique number assigned to each article. * **Authors**: Indicates the surname of the first author when there are multiple authors (et al.) or the surnames of both authors if there are only two. * **Journal**: Name of the journal where the study was published. * **Year**: Year the study was published. * **Col_Year**: Year when the data were collected for each article. If the data were collected over multiple years, the symbol “/” was used to separate them. * **Mean_ColYear**: Average year of data collection. For instance, when data were collected over three consecutive years, the values of those years were summed and divided by three to obtain an average collection year. * **Region**: Region of the Cerrado where the study was conducted. * **Order** and **Family**: Taxonomy of the insect groups analyzed in each article. * **MC** and **MT**: Represent the mean values for the control (preserved Cerrado) and treatment (exotic grassland), respectively. * **sdC** and **sdT**: Represent the standard deviation for the control and treatment, respectively. * **ssC** and **ssT**: Represent the sample size for the control and treatment, respectively.  ## Code/software 1. LibreOffice Calc 2. Google Sheets 3. WPS Office Free 4. Apache OpenOffice Calc ## Access information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: * None  Data was derived from the following sources: * Scopus, Web of Science