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Sucking insects and their predators on tree canopies of a monocultural stand of Caryocar brasiliense

Insetos sugadores e seus predadores na copa de Caryocar brasiliense em sistema de monocultura

Abstract

Caryocar brasiliense Camb. (Malpighiales: Caryocaraceae) trees are widely distributed throughout the Cerrado ecosystem. The fruits of C. brasiliense trees are used by humans for food and as the main income source in many communities. C. brasiliense conservation is seriously threatened due to habitat loss caused by the land-use change. Sucking insects constitute an important ecological driver that potentially impact C. brasiliense survival in degraded environments. In addition, insects sampling methodologies for application in studies related to the conservation of C. brasiliense are poorly developed. In this study, sucking insects (Hemiptera) and their predators were recorded in three vertical strata of Caryocar brasiliense canopies. The distribution of sucking species showed vertical stratification along the canopy structure of C. brasiliense. The basal part of the canopy had the highest numbers of sucking insects Aphis gossypii (Glover 1877) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and Bemisia tabaci (Genn. 1889) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), and their predators Chrysoperla sp. (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), spiders (Araneae), and Zelus armillatus (Lep. & Servi., 1825) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae). Predators' distribution follows the resource availability and preferred C. brasiliense tree parts with a higher abundance of prey.

Keywords:
aphids; Bemisia tabaci; Brazilian Cerrado; Dikrella caryocar; Hemiptera; Pseudococcus sp.; vertical stratification

Resumo

Caryocar brasiliense Camb. (Malpighiales: Caryocaraceae) é amplamente distribuído por todo o ecossistema de cerrado. Os frutos de C. brasiliense são utilizados na alimentação humana e constitui uma importante fonte de renda para muitas comunidades. A perda de habitat provocada pelas mudanças de uso da terra coloca em risco a conservação de C. brasiliense. Insetos sugadores constituem um importante fator ecológico que, potencialmente, afeta o fitness de C. brasiliense em ambientes degradados. Além disso, as metodologias de amostragem de insetos para aplicação em estudos relacionados à conservação de C. brasiliense são pouco desenvolvidas. Neste estudo, o número de insetos sugadores (Hemiptera) e seus predadores foram avaliados em três estratos verticais do dossel de C. brasiliense. A distribuição das espécies sugadoras apresentou estratificação vertical ao longo da estrutura do dossel. O estrato basal do dossel apresentou o maior número de insetos sugadores Aphis gossypii (Glover 1877) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) e Bemisia tabaci (Genn. 1889) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), e seus predadores Chrysoperla sp. (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), aranhas (Araneae) e Zelus armillatus (Lep. & Servi., 1825) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae). Os predadores distribuíram-se de acordo com a disponibilidade de recursos, ocorrendo em maior número nas partes do dossel com maior abundância de suas presas.

Palavras-chave:
pulgões; Bemisia tabaci; Cerrado Brasileiro; Dikrella caryocar; Hemiptera; Pseudococcus sp.; estratificação vertical

1. Introduction

Caryocar brasiliense Camb. (Malpighiales: Caryocaraceae) is a perennial plant widely distributed throughout the Cerrado ecosystem, which covers approximately 23% of the Brazilian territory (Araújo, 1995ARAÚJO, F.D., 1995. A review of Caryocar brasiliense Camb. (Caryocaraceae): an economically valuable species of the central Brazilian cerrados. Economic Botany, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 40-48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02862276.
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; Ratter et al., 1997RATTER, J., RIBEIRO, J.F. and BRIDGEWATER, S., 1997. The Brazilian Cerrado vegetation and threats to its biodiversity. Annals of Botany, vol. 80, no. 3, pp. 223-230. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/anbo.1997.0469.
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). The fruits of C. brasiliense trees are rich in oil, vitamins, proteins, and compounds of medicinal importance used by humans as food, cosmetics, lubricant production, and pharmaceutical products. Due to this vast utility to human society, C. brasiliense is the main income source of many traditional communities (Leite et al., 2006LEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., ZANUNCIO, J.C., FERNANDES, L.A. and ALMEIDA, C.I.M., 2006. Phenology of Caryocar brasiliense in the Brazilian Cerrado Region. Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 236, no. 2-3, pp. 286-294. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2006.09.013.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2006....
). This species is protected by federal laws in Brazil, and, as a result, is maintained in degraded areas of the Brazilian Cerrado. Nevertheless, conservation of C. brasiliense is serious threatened due to habitat loss caused by land-use change during the expansion of agricultural activities (Ratter et al., 1997RATTER, J., RIBEIRO, J.F. and BRIDGEWATER, S., 1997. The Brazilian Cerrado vegetation and threats to its biodiversity. Annals of Botany, vol. 80, no. 3, pp. 223-230. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/anbo.1997.0469.
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; Collevatti et al., 2001COLLEVATTI, R.G., GRATTAPAGLIA, D. and HAY, J.D., 2001. Population genetic structure of the endangered tropical tree species Caryocar brasiliense, based on variability at microsatellite loci. Molecular Ecology, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 349-356. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-294x.2001.01226.x. PMid:11298950.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-294x.20...
; Leite et al., 2006LEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., ZANUNCIO, J.C., FERNANDES, L.A. and ALMEIDA, C.I.M., 2006. Phenology of Caryocar brasiliense in the Brazilian Cerrado Region. Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 236, no. 2-3, pp. 286-294. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2006.09.013.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2006....
; Melo Junior et al., 2012). Isolated C. brasiliense individuals embedded in agro-landscapes are subject to higher leaf, flower and fruit damage by sucking insects than those located in native areas (Leite et al., 2012aLEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., ZANUNCIO, J.C., FERNANDES, G.F., ALMEIDA, C.I.M., FERREIRA, P.S.F., ALONSO, J. and SERRÃO, J.E., 2012a. Seasonal abundance of hemipterans on Caryocar brasiliense (Malpighiales: Caryocaraceae) trees in the Cerrado. The Florida Entomologist, vol. 95, no. 4, pp. 862-872. http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.095.0407.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.095.0407...
, 2015aLEITE, G.L.D., LOPES, P.S.N., ZANUNCIO, J.C., MARTINS, C.P.S., MOREIRA, T.M.B. and COSTA, R.I.F., 2015a. Effects of environmental and architectural diversity of Caryocar brasiliense (Malpighiales: Caryocaraceae) on Edessa ruformaginata (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) and its biology. Acta Scientiarum. Agronomy, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 19-27. http://dx.doi.org/10.4025/actasciagron.v38i1.26244.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4025/actasciagron.v...
, bLEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., ZANUNCIO, J.C., ALMEIDA, C.I.M., FERREIRA, P.S.F. and SERRÃO, J.E., 2015b. Cardinal distribution of sucking insects in Caryocar brasiliense (Caryocaraceae) in Cerrado (Brazil). Revista Colombiana de Entomologia, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 105-111., 2016LEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., ZANUNCIO, J.C., ALONSO, J., FERREIRA, P.S.F., ALMEIDA, C.I.M., FERNANDES, G.W. and SERRÃO, J.E., 2016. Diversity of Hemiptera (Arthropoda: Insecta) and their natural enemies on Caryocar brasiliense (Malpighiales: Caryocaraceae) trees in the Brazilian Cerrado. The Florida Entomologist, vol. 99, no. 2, pp. 239-247. http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.099.0213.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.099.0213...
). Thus, sucking insects constitute an important ecological driver that potentially negatively affect C. brasiliense survival in degraded environments. Despite the environmental and social importance of C. brasiliense, the occurrence of antagonistic insects on C. brasiliense as well as what factors may affect their distribution in C. brasiliense canopies is poorly debated.

Several studies suggested that resources (Dáttilo et al., 2012DÁTTILO, W., MARTINS, R.L., UHDE, V., NORONHA, J.C., FLORÊNCIO, F.P. and IZZO, T.J., 2012. Floral resource partitioning by ants and bees in a jambolan Syzygium jambolanum (Myrtaceae) agroforestry system in Brazilian Meridional Amazon. Agroforestry Systems, vol. 85, no. 1, pp. 105-111. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10457-012-9489-5.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10457-012-948...
; Wardhaugh, 2014WARDHAUGH, C.W., 2014. The spatial and temporal distributions of arthropods in forest canopies: uniting disparate patterns with hypotheses for specialisation. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vol. 89, no. 4, pp. 1021-1041. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/brv.12094. PMid:24581118.
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; Ballarin et al., 2019BALLARIN, C.S., HACHUY-FILHO, L., SANZ-VEIGA, P.A. and AMORIM, F.W., 2019. The resource-mediated modular structure of a non-symbiotic ant-plant mutualism. Ecological Entomology, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 121-129. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/een.12780.
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), competition (Camarota et al., 2020CAMAROTA, F., VASCONCELOS, H.L., MARQUIS, R.J. and POWELL, S., 2020. Revisiting ecological dominance in arboreal ants: how dominant usage of nesting resources shapes community assembly. Oecologia, vol. 194, no. 1-2, pp. 151-163. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04748-z. PMid:32909091.
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), predation (Pringle and Fox-Dobbs, 2008PRINGLE, R.M. and FOX-DOBBS, K., 2008. Coupling of canopy and understory food webs by ground-dwelling predators. Ecology Letters, vol. 11, no. 12, pp. 1328-1337. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01252.x. PMid:19046361.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.20...
), edaphoclimatic conditions (Hikosaka, 2005HIKOSAKA, K., 2005. Leaf canopy as a dynamic system: ecophysiology and optimality in leaf turnover. Annals of Botany, vol. 95, no. 3, pp. 521-533. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aob/mci050. PMid:15585542.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aob/mci050...
; Araújo and Haridasan, 2007ARAÚJO, J.F. and HARIDASAN, M., 2007. Relação entre deciduidade e concentrações foliares de nutrientes em espécies lenhosas do cerrado. Brazilian Journal of Botany, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 533-542. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0100-84042007000300017.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0100-84042007...
; Sousa-Souto et al., 2018SOUSA-SOUTO, L., BOCCHIGLIERI, A., DIAS, D.M., FERREIRA, A.S. and LEMOS-FILHO, J.P., 2018. Changes in leaf chlorophyll content associated with flowering and its role in the diversity of phytophagous insects in a tree species from a semiarid Caatinga. PeerJ, vol. 6, pp. e5059. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5059. PMid:30042875.
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), and habitat degradation (Stone et al., 2018STONE, M.J., CATTERALL, C.P. and STORK, N.E., 2018. Edge effects and beta diversity in ground and canopy beetle communities of fragmented subtropical forest. PLoS One, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. e0193369. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193369. PMid:29494680.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0...
; Basset et al., 2001BASSET, Y., CHARLES, E., HAMMOND, D.S. and BROWN, V.K., 2001. Short-term effects of canopy openness on insect herbivores in a rain forest in Guyana. Journal of Applied Ecology, vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 1045-1058. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2664.2001.00660.x.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2664.20...
) are important drivers of niche partitioning in plant-dwelling arthropods. These factors might impose a vertical stratification in arthropod communities that inhabit and interact with plant tree species (Basset et al., 2003BASSET, Y., HAMMOND, P.M., BARRIOS, H., HOLLOWAY, J.D. and MILLER, S.E., 2003. Vertical stratification of arthropod assemblages. In: Y. BASSET, V. NOVOTNY, S. E. MILLER and R. L. KITCHING, eds. Arthropods of tropical forests. spatio-temporal dynamics and resource use in the canopy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 17-27.). Vertical stratification of the arthropods along the canopy tree in plants from tropical, subtropical, and humid tropical forests (Summerville et al., 2003SUMMERVILLE, K.S., CRIST, T.O., KAHN, J.K. and GERING, J.C., 2003. Community structure of arboreal caterpillars within and among four tree species of the eastern deciduous forest. Ecological Entomology, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 747-757. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2311.2003.00561.x.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2311.20...
; Novotny and Basset, 2005NOVOTNY, V. and BASSET, Y., 2005. Host specificity of insect herbivores in tropical forests. Proceedings. Biological Sciences, vol. 272, no. 1568, pp. 1083-1090. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2004.3023. PMid:16024368.
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; Campos et al., 2006CAMPOS, R.I., VASCONCELOS, H.L., RIBEIRO, S.P., NEVES, F.S. and SOARES, J.P., 2006. Relationship between tree size and insect assemblages associated with Anadenanthera macrocarpa. Ecography, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 442-450. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.2006.0906-7590.04520.x.
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; Wardhaugh et al., 2006WARDHAUGH, C.W., BLAKELY, T.J., GREIG, H., MORRIS, P.D., BARNDEN, A., RICKARD, S., ATKINSON, B., FAGAN, L.L., EWERS, R.M. and DIDHAM, R.K., 2006. Vertical stratification in the spatial distribution of the beech scale insect (Ultracoelostoma assimile) in Nothofagus tree canopies in New Zealand. Ecological Entomology, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 185-195. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0307-6946.2006.00778.x.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0307-6946.20...
; Neves et al., 2013NEVES, F.S., SPERBER, C.F., CAMPOS, R.I., SOARES, J.P. and RIBEIRO, S.P., 2013. Contrasting effects of sampling scale on insect herbivores distribution in response to canopy structure. Revista de Biología Tropical, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 125-137. http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/rbt.v61i1.10894. PMid:23894967.
http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/rbt.v61i1.108...
; Wardhaugh, 2014WARDHAUGH, C.W., 2014. The spatial and temporal distributions of arthropods in forest canopies: uniting disparate patterns with hypotheses for specialisation. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vol. 89, no. 4, pp. 1021-1041. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/brv.12094. PMid:24581118.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/brv.12094...
; Basset et al., 2015BASSET, Y., CIZEK, L., CUÉNOUD, P., DIDHAM, R.K., NOVOTNY, V., ØDEGAARD, F., ROSLIN, T., TISHECHKIN, A.K., SCHMIDL, J., WINCHESTER, N.N., ROUBIK, D.W., ABERLENC, H.P., BAIL, J., BARRIOS, H., BRIDLE, J.R., CASTAÑO-MENESES, G., CORBARA, B., CURLETTI, G., DUARTE DA ROCHA, W., DE BAKKER, D., DELABIE, J.H., DEJEAN, A., FAGAN, L.L., FLOREN, A., KITCHING, R.L., MEDIANERO, E., GAMA DE OLIVEIRA, E., ORIVEL, J., POLLET, M., RAPP, M., RIBEIRO, S.P., ROISIN, Y., SCHMIDT, J.B., SØRENSEN, L., LEWINSOHN, T.M. and LEPONCE, M. and LEPONCE, M., 2015. Arthropod Distribution in a Tropical Rainforest: Tackling a Four Dimensional Puzzle. PLoS One, vol. 10, no. 12, pp. e0144110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144110. PMid:26633187.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0...
; McCaig et al., 2020MCCAIG, T., SAM, L., NAKAMURA, A. and STORK, N.E., 2020. Is insect vertical distribution in rainforests better explained by distance from the canopy top or distance from the ground? Biodiversity and Conservation, vol. 29, no. 9, pp. 1081-1103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01927-0.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-019...
) have been vastly recorded.

In seasonal environments such as Brazilian Cerrado and Caatinga, the vertifical stratification of arthropod assemblage can be extremely common. Once variations in edaphoclimatc conditions across the year can markedly affect the leaf nutrient content along with the vertical structure of the canopy, which in turn, can affect the nutritional quality of the resources available to arthropods (Hikosaka, 2005HIKOSAKA, K., 2005. Leaf canopy as a dynamic system: ecophysiology and optimality in leaf turnover. Annals of Botany, vol. 95, no. 3, pp. 521-533. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aob/mci050. PMid:15585542.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aob/mci050...
; Araújo and Haridasan, 2007ARAÚJO, J.F. and HARIDASAN, M., 2007. Relação entre deciduidade e concentrações foliares de nutrientes em espécies lenhosas do cerrado. Brazilian Journal of Botany, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 533-542. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0100-84042007000300017.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0100-84042007...
; Sousa-Souto et al., 2018SOUSA-SOUTO, L., BOCCHIGLIERI, A., DIAS, D.M., FERREIRA, A.S. and LEMOS-FILHO, J.P., 2018. Changes in leaf chlorophyll content associated with flowering and its role in the diversity of phytophagous insects in a tree species from a semiarid Caatinga. PeerJ, vol. 6, pp. e5059. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5059. PMid:30042875.
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.5059...
). For example, the number of flowers and fruits produced is differentially distributed in C. brasiliense canopy, in both vertical and horizontal layers. This heterogeneity of plant resources distribution in C. brasiliense trees are probably related to environmental factors such as predominant wind direction and level of exposure to the sun, which in turn, might also affect arthropods distribution within the canopy (Leite et al., 2006LEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., ZANUNCIO, J.C., FERNANDES, L.A. and ALMEIDA, C.I.M., 2006. Phenology of Caryocar brasiliense in the Brazilian Cerrado Region. Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 236, no. 2-3, pp. 286-294. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2006.09.013.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2006....
, 2021LEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., SILVA, J.L., AZEVEDO, A.M., SOARES, M.A., LEMES, P.G., MATIOLI, A.L. and ZANUNCIO, J.C., 2021. Vertical extratification of phytophagous and predator mites (Acari) on Caryocar brasiliense (Caryocaraceae) tree canopies. Persian Journal of Acarology, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 121-125. http://dx.doi.org/10.22073/pja.v10i1.64192.
http://dx.doi.org/10.22073/pja.v10i1.641...
, 2022LEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., AZEVEDO, A.M., ALMEIDA, C.I.M., SOARES, M.A., PEREIRA, A.I.A., LEMES, P.G. and ZANUNCIO, J.C., 2022. Distribution of galling insects and their parasitoids on Caryocar brasiliense tree crowns. Brazilian Journal of Biology = Revista Brasileira de Biologia, vol. 82, pp. e235017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.235017. PMid:34076163.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.2350...
; Ribeiro and Basset, 2007RIBEIRO, S.P. and BASSET, Y., 2007. Gall-forming and free-feeding herbivory along vertical gradients in a lowland tropical rainforest: the importance of leaf sclerophylly. Ecography, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 663-672. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.2007.0906-7590.05083.x.
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). Indeed, the abundance of Proctolaelaps sp. (Mesostigmata: Ascidae), a predator mite, and the distribution of the gall parasitoid, Sycophila sp. (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae), are spatially stratified on the C. brasiliense crowns and reliant of the distribution and abundance of its preys (Leite et al., 2021LEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., SILVA, J.L., AZEVEDO, A.M., SOARES, M.A., LEMES, P.G., MATIOLI, A.L. and ZANUNCIO, J.C., 2021. Vertical extratification of phytophagous and predator mites (Acari) on Caryocar brasiliense (Caryocaraceae) tree canopies. Persian Journal of Acarology, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 121-125. http://dx.doi.org/10.22073/pja.v10i1.64192.
http://dx.doi.org/10.22073/pja.v10i1.641...
).

The development of insects sampling methodologies is one of the most important steps to offer representative results for application in studies related to biodiversity conservation and insect pest management in agroecossystem (Basset et al., 2015BASSET, Y., CIZEK, L., CUÉNOUD, P., DIDHAM, R.K., NOVOTNY, V., ØDEGAARD, F., ROSLIN, T., TISHECHKIN, A.K., SCHMIDL, J., WINCHESTER, N.N., ROUBIK, D.W., ABERLENC, H.P., BAIL, J., BARRIOS, H., BRIDLE, J.R., CASTAÑO-MENESES, G., CORBARA, B., CURLETTI, G., DUARTE DA ROCHA, W., DE BAKKER, D., DELABIE, J.H., DEJEAN, A., FAGAN, L.L., FLOREN, A., KITCHING, R.L., MEDIANERO, E., GAMA DE OLIVEIRA, E., ORIVEL, J., POLLET, M., RAPP, M., RIBEIRO, S.P., ROISIN, Y., SCHMIDT, J.B., SØRENSEN, L., LEWINSOHN, T.M. and LEPONCE, M. and LEPONCE, M., 2015. Arthropod Distribution in a Tropical Rainforest: Tackling a Four Dimensional Puzzle. PLoS One, vol. 10, no. 12, pp. e0144110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144110. PMid:26633187.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0...
; Nakamura et al., 2017NAKAMURA, A., KITCHING, R.L., CAO, M., CREEDY, T.J., FAYLE, T.M., FREIBERG, M., HEWITT, C.N., ITIOKA, T., KOH, L.P., MA, K., MALHI, Y., MITCHELL, A., NOVOTNY, V., OZANNE, C.M.P., SONG, L., WANG, H. and ASHTON, L.A., 2017. Forests and Their Canopies: Achievements and Horizons in Canopy Science. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, vol. 32, no. 6, pp. 438-451. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2017.02.020. PMid:28359572.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2017.02...
; McCaig et al., 2020MCCAIG, T., SAM, L., NAKAMURA, A. and STORK, N.E., 2020. Is insect vertical distribution in rainforests better explained by distance from the canopy top or distance from the ground? Biodiversity and Conservation, vol. 29, no. 9, pp. 1081-1103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01927-0.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-019...
). Despite some studies have investigated arthropod assemblage in C. brasiliense (Leite et al., 2012aLEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., ZANUNCIO, J.C., FERNANDES, G.F., ALMEIDA, C.I.M., FERREIRA, P.S.F., ALONSO, J. and SERRÃO, J.E., 2012a. Seasonal abundance of hemipterans on Caryocar brasiliense (Malpighiales: Caryocaraceae) trees in the Cerrado. The Florida Entomologist, vol. 95, no. 4, pp. 862-872. http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.095.0407.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.095.0407...
, bLEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., ZANUNCIO, J.C., ALMEIDA, C.I.M., FERREIRA, P.S.F., FERNANDES, G.W. and SOARES, M.A., 2012b. Habitat complexity and Caryocar brasiliense herbivores (Insecta; Arachnida; Araneae). The Florida Entomologist, vol. 95, no. 4, pp. 819-830. http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.095.0402.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.095.0402...
, 2015aLEITE, G.L.D., LOPES, P.S.N., ZANUNCIO, J.C., MARTINS, C.P.S., MOREIRA, T.M.B. and COSTA, R.I.F., 2015a. Effects of environmental and architectural diversity of Caryocar brasiliense (Malpighiales: Caryocaraceae) on Edessa ruformaginata (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) and its biology. Acta Scientiarum. Agronomy, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 19-27. http://dx.doi.org/10.4025/actasciagron.v38i1.26244.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4025/actasciagron.v...
, bLEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., ZANUNCIO, J.C., ALMEIDA, C.I.M., FERREIRA, P.S.F. and SERRÃO, J.E., 2015b. Cardinal distribution of sucking insects in Caryocar brasiliense (Caryocaraceae) in Cerrado (Brazil). Revista Colombiana de Entomologia, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 105-111., 2016LEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., ZANUNCIO, J.C., ALONSO, J., FERREIRA, P.S.F., ALMEIDA, C.I.M., FERNANDES, G.W. and SERRÃO, J.E., 2016. Diversity of Hemiptera (Arthropoda: Insecta) and their natural enemies on Caryocar brasiliense (Malpighiales: Caryocaraceae) trees in the Brazilian Cerrado. The Florida Entomologist, vol. 99, no. 2, pp. 239-247. http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.099.0213.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.099.0213...
, 2021LEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., SILVA, J.L., AZEVEDO, A.M., SOARES, M.A., LEMES, P.G., MATIOLI, A.L. and ZANUNCIO, J.C., 2021. Vertical extratification of phytophagous and predator mites (Acari) on Caryocar brasiliense (Caryocaraceae) tree canopies. Persian Journal of Acarology, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 121-125. http://dx.doi.org/10.22073/pja.v10i1.64192.
http://dx.doi.org/10.22073/pja.v10i1.641...
, 2022LEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., AZEVEDO, A.M., ALMEIDA, C.I.M., SOARES, M.A., PEREIRA, A.I.A., LEMES, P.G. and ZANUNCIO, J.C., 2022. Distribution of galling insects and their parasitoids on Caryocar brasiliense tree crowns. Brazilian Journal of Biology = Revista Brasileira de Biologia, vol. 82, pp. e235017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.235017. PMid:34076163.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.2350...
), the vertical arthropod distribution in the C. brasiliense canopy located in human-modified landscapes needs further investigation because sampling plans are necessary to define insect pest and natural enemy distribution in plant tree canopies (Lamien et al., 2008LAMIEN, N., TIGABU, M., DABIRE, R., GUINKO, S. and ODEN, P.C., 2008. Insect (Salebria sp.) infestation and impact on Vitellaria paradoxa CF Gaertn. fruit production in agroforestry parklands. Agroforestry Systems, vol. 72, no. 1, pp. 15-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10457-007-9094-1.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10457-007-909...
). To fill this gap, we investigated arthropod vertical stratification in C. brasiliense using a novel insect sampling protocol. As edaphoclimatic factors affect seasonal plant species such as C. brasiliense, we also tested the hypothesis that sucking insects avoid the upper strata of the C. brasiliense canopy due to excessive sunlight and wind exposure, which make this canopy layer more stressful. Furthermore, we tested whether sucking insects and their predators were more abundant in canopy layers offering more plant resources (resource availability hypothesis), as resource availability affects plant-interacting arthropods (Dáttilo et al. 2012DÁTTILO, W., MARTINS, R.L., UHDE, V., NORONHA, J.C., FLORÊNCIO, F.P. and IZZO, T.J., 2012. Floral resource partitioning by ants and bees in a jambolan Syzygium jambolanum (Myrtaceae) agroforestry system in Brazilian Meridional Amazon. Agroforestry Systems, vol. 85, no. 1, pp. 105-111. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10457-012-9489-5.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10457-012-948...
; Wardhaugh, 2014WARDHAUGH, C.W., 2014. The spatial and temporal distributions of arthropods in forest canopies: uniting disparate patterns with hypotheses for specialisation. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vol. 89, no. 4, pp. 1021-1041. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/brv.12094. PMid:24581118.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/brv.12094...
; Ballarin et al. 2019BALLARIN, C.S., HACHUY-FILHO, L., SANZ-VEIGA, P.A. and AMORIM, F.W., 2019. The resource-mediated modular structure of a non-symbiotic ant-plant mutualism. Ecological Entomology, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 121-129. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/een.12780.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/een.12780...
).

2. Material and Methods

This study was conducted in the campus of the Instituto de Ciências Agrárias da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (ICA/UFMG) (16º40'54.5”S, 43º50'26.8”W, 633 m.a.s.l., with medium texture dystrophic red oxisol) in the municipality of Montes Claros, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, from June 2009 to June 2012. This region has dry winters and rainy summers, with Aw climate: tropical savanna, according to Köppen (Alvares et al., 2013ALVARES, C.A., STAPE, J.L., SENTELHAS, P.C., GONÇALVES, J.L.M. and SPAROVEK, G., 2013. Köppen’s climate classification map for Brazil. Meteorologische Zeitschrift, vol. 22, no. 6, pp. 711-728. http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/0941-2948/2013/0507.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/0941-2948/2013...
). The area encompasses a monodominat C. brasiliense stand with 6,800 m2. 272 C. brasiliense trees with 10 years old (monoculture) (e.g, 400 C. brasilense ha-1), are distributed homogeneously, spaced 5 × 5 m, with gardens surrounding ~300 m. These trees were 3.85 ± 0.18 m high with 1.81 ± 0.15 m canopy width. The weeds between plant rows were removed by manual weeding. We selected 15 trees and counted arthropod species number in the basal (0 to 33%), median (34 to 66%) and apical regions (67 to 100% of total plant height) of the canopy in each plant individual. The relative frequency was calculated as F= (n/N)*100, where n= number of individuals per specie and per taxon collected and N= total number of individuals collected in each part of the canopy.

The distribution of sucking insects and their predators was recorded in the morning (7:00-11:00 AM) by direct visual observation on four fully-expanded leaves at the basal, median and apical parts (0 to 33%, 33 to 66% and 66 to 100% of total plant height, respectively) (Leite et al., 2015bLEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., ZANUNCIO, J.C., ALMEIDA, C.I.M., FERREIRA, P.S.F. and SERRÃO, J.E., 2015b. Cardinal distribution of sucking insects in Caryocar brasiliense (Caryocaraceae) in Cerrado (Brazil). Revista Colombiana de Entomologia, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 105-111., 2016LEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., ZANUNCIO, J.C., ALONSO, J., FERREIRA, P.S.F., ALMEIDA, C.I.M., FERNANDES, G.W. and SERRÃO, J.E., 2016. Diversity of Hemiptera (Arthropoda: Insecta) and their natural enemies on Caryocar brasiliense (Malpighiales: Caryocaraceae) trees in the Brazilian Cerrado. The Florida Entomologist, vol. 99, no. 2, pp. 239-247. http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.099.0213.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.099.0213...
) of 15 C. brasiliense trees per month (over 36 months). Insects were collected with tweezers, brushes, or aspirators and preserved in vials with 70% alcohol for identification by taxonomists (see acknowledgments). A total of 6,480 trifoliate leaves were sampled in the three canopy parts during the 3 years (12 leaves/tree/month).

Means of arthropod numbers were used per canopy tree part. To evaluate whether number of herbivore and predator species on the canopy differ in basal, medium, and apical regions of the tree individuals we performed Linear mixed models, considering the region of the tree canopy as fixed factor and accounting for intraspecific variation on tree canopy as random effect. For this, the lme function (linear mixed-effects models) of the nlme package (Pinheiro et al., 2021PINHEIRO, J., BATES, D., DEBROY, S. and SARKAR, D., 2021. nlme: linear and nonlinear mixed effects models. R package version 3.1-153 [online]. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Available from: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=nlme
https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=nlme...
) was used. The means were compared using the Tukey test (P< 0.05) with the aid of the glht function of the multcomp package (Hothorn et al., 2008HOTHORN, T., BRETZ, F. and WESTFALL, P., 2008. Simultaneous inference in general parametric models. Biometrical Journal. Biometrische Zeitschrift, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 346-363. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bimj.200810425. PMid:18481363.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bimj.200810425...
). All analyzes were performed by the R software (R Core Team, 2014R CORE TEAM, 2014. R: a language and environment for statistical computing [online]. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Available from: http://www.R-project.org/
http://www.R-project.org/...
).

3. Results

In this study, despite the C. brasiliense grew in monodominat stands, the distribution of two sucking insect species and all predator species was spatially stratified along with the vertical C. brasiliense canopy. The numbers of sucking insects Hemiptera Aphis gossypii (Glover, 1877) (Aphididae) (Figure 1A) and Bemisia tabaci (Genn., 1889) (Aleyrodidae) (Figure 1B) were highest on the basal of C. brasiliense tree canopies (statistical results with significance testing) with total individuals and relative frequency (%) of 33023 and 78.76% and 652 and 75.12%, respectively, in this plant part (Table 1). Dikrella caryocar (Coelho, Leite & Da-Silva, 2014) (Cicadellidae) and Pseudococcus sp. (Pseudococcidae) numbers did not differ between canopy parts (Figures 1C, 1D). The total number of sap-sucking insects and its frequency were 38456 and 58.86%, respectively, in the basal part of the canopy (Table 1). Stratified vertical distribution was also observed for predatory arthropods (statistical results with significance testing). The numbers of predators Chrysoperla sp. (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), spiders (Araneae), and Zelus armillatus (Lep. & Servi., 1825) (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) were less significant in the apical part of the C. brasiliense canopy (Figures 1E-G) (statistical results with significance testing) with total individuals and relative frequency (%) of 2448 and 12.14%, 1093 and 13.99%, and 1530 and 6.03%, respectively, in this plant part. The total number of predators and its frequency were 5071 and 9.50%, respectively, in the apical part of the canopy (Table 1).

Figure 1
Number of sucking insects and their predators per leaf/canopy part of Caryocar brasiliense trees (means ± standard error). Means followed by the same letter per line do not differ by the Tukey test. ANOVA obtained values of F and P. df’s of treatments, blocks, and errors were 2, 14, and 28, respectively.
Table 1
Total number of arthropods species and of their groups and their specific relative frequency (%) on Caryocar brasiliense trees.

4. Discussion

In this study, we evaluated vertical stratification of arthropods in C. brasiliense. Despite some studies that have investigated their abundance in several different contexts, to our knowledge, this is study is the first to reveal a clear spatial partition of the arthropods that cohabit the C. brasiliense canopy. We observed that there is a vertical stratification of arthropods in C. brasiliense canopy, but also that this spatial configuration follows a species-specific pattern, in which some herbivores and their predators use the same niche space.

Resource available for insects on the canopy structure can be influenced by sunlight exposure that affects host plant tissue quality, leaf sclerophylly (Lamien et al., 2008LAMIEN, N., TIGABU, M., DABIRE, R., GUINKO, S. and ODEN, P.C., 2008. Insect (Salebria sp.) infestation and impact on Vitellaria paradoxa CF Gaertn. fruit production in agroforestry parklands. Agroforestry Systems, vol. 72, no. 1, pp. 15-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10457-007-9094-1.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10457-007-909...
), and microclimate (Stoeckli et al., 2008STOECKLI, S., MODY, K. and DORN, S., 2008. Influence of canopy aspect and height on codling moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) larval infestation in apple, and relationship between infestation and fruit size. Journal of Economic Entomology, vol. 101, no. 1, pp. 81-89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jee/101.1.81. PMid:18330120.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jee/101.1.81...
). Usually, insects move to preferred host parts using gustatory, olfactory, tactile and visual stimuli and identifying vertical objects based on polarized light (Doane and Leonard, 1975DOANE, C.C. and LEONARD, D.E., 1975. Orientation and dispersal of late-stage larvae of Porthetria dispar (Lepidoptera: lymantriidae). Canadian Entomologist, vol. 107, no. 12, pp. 1333-1338. http://dx.doi.org/10.4039/Ent1071333-12.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4039/Ent1071333-12...
). The highest numbers and frequencies of the sucking insects A. gossypii and B. tabaci in the basal part of the C. brasiliense canopy, probably, is due to tender tissues (e.g., fewer sclerophyll leaves) and lower radiation (e.g., desiccant effect) than the apical parts, favoring these soft insects occurrence (Rao et al., 2000RAO, M.R., SINGH, M.P. and DAY, R., 2000. Insect pest problems in tropical agroforestry systems: contributory factors and strategies for management. Agroforestry Systems, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 243-277. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1006421701772.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:100642170177...
; Chau et al., 2005CHAU, A., HEINZ, M. and DAVIES, F.T., 2005. Influences of fertilization on Aphis gossypii and insecticide usage. Journal of Applied Entomology, vol. 129, no. 3, pp. 89-97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0418.2005.00943.x.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0418.20...
; Ribeiro and Basset, 2007RIBEIRO, S.P. and BASSET, Y., 2007. Gall-forming and free-feeding herbivory along vertical gradients in a lowland tropical rainforest: the importance of leaf sclerophylly. Ecography, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 663-672. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.2007.0906-7590.05083.x.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.2007.0906-75...
).

Moreover, the prevailing wind direction in Montes Claros is from the northeast to the east (Leite et al., 2006LEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., ZANUNCIO, J.C., FERNANDES, L.A. and ALMEIDA, C.I.M., 2006. Phenology of Caryocar brasiliense in the Brazilian Cerrado Region. Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 236, no. 2-3, pp. 286-294. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2006.09.013.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2006....
) and the prevailing sunlight radiation is on the north side in the Southern Hemisphere (Vianello and Alves, 2012VIANELLO, R.L. and ALVES, A.R., 2012. Meteorologia básica e aplicações. 2ª ed. Viçosa: UFV.). Both features might have strong desiccant effects in this municipality, with low relative humidity and high temperature (Leite et al., 2006LEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., ZANUNCIO, J.C., FERNANDES, L.A. and ALMEIDA, C.I.M., 2006. Phenology of Caryocar brasiliense in the Brazilian Cerrado Region. Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 236, no. 2-3, pp. 286-294. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2006.09.013.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2006....
), which in turn, can influence sucking insect populations (Leite et al., 2015aLEITE, G.L.D., LOPES, P.S.N., ZANUNCIO, J.C., MARTINS, C.P.S., MOREIRA, T.M.B. and COSTA, R.I.F., 2015a. Effects of environmental and architectural diversity of Caryocar brasiliense (Malpighiales: Caryocaraceae) on Edessa ruformaginata (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) and its biology. Acta Scientiarum. Agronomy, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 19-27. http://dx.doi.org/10.4025/actasciagron.v38i1.26244.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4025/actasciagron.v...
). These factors should explain the non-preference of sucking insects to attack the north side (horizontal axis), apical part (vertical axis), and adaxial surface leaf, resulting in a lower diversity of species, as related for Aethalion reticulatum (L., 1767) (Hemiptera: Aethalionidae), Dalbulus maidis (DeLong & Wolcott, 1923) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), and Mahanarva posticata (Stal., 1855) (Hemiptera: Cercopidae) on Acacia mangium (Willd.) (Fabales: Fabaceae) and Leucaena leucocephala (Lam. de Wit) (Fabales: Fabaceae) trees, and Edessa rufomarginata (De Geer1, 1773) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) on C. brasiliense trees, in Montes Claros areas (Silva et al., 2014SILVA, F.W.S., LEITE, G.L.D., GUANABENS, R.E.M., SAMPAIO, R.A., GUSMÃO, C.A.G. and ZANUNCIO, J.C., 2014. Spatial distribution of arthropods on Acacia mangium (Fabales: Fabaceae) trees as windbreaks in the Cerrado. The Florida Entomologist, vol. 97, no. 2, pp. 631-638. http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.097.0240.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.097.0240...
; Leite et al., 2015aLEITE, G.L.D., LOPES, P.S.N., ZANUNCIO, J.C., MARTINS, C.P.S., MOREIRA, T.M.B. and COSTA, R.I.F., 2015a. Effects of environmental and architectural diversity of Caryocar brasiliense (Malpighiales: Caryocaraceae) on Edessa ruformaginata (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) and its biology. Acta Scientiarum. Agronomy, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 19-27. http://dx.doi.org/10.4025/actasciagron.v38i1.26244.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4025/actasciagron.v...
; Damascena et al., 2017DAMASCENA, J.G., LEITE, G.L.D., SILVA, F.W.S., SOARES, M.A., GUANABENS, R.E.M., SAMPAIO, R.A. and ZANUNCIO, J.C., 2017. Spatial distribution of phytophagous insects, natural enemies, and pollinators on Leucaena leucocephala (Fabaceae) trees in the Cerrado. The Florida Entomologist, vol. 100, no. 3, pp. 558-565. http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.100.0311.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.100.0311...
).

Additionally, a study reported by Leite et al. (2022)LEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., AZEVEDO, A.M., ALMEIDA, C.I.M., SOARES, M.A., PEREIRA, A.I.A., LEMES, P.G. and ZANUNCIO, J.C., 2022. Distribution of galling insects and their parasitoids on Caryocar brasiliense tree crowns. Brazilian Journal of Biology = Revista Brasileira de Biologia, vol. 82, pp. e235017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.235017. PMid:34076163.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.2350...
found that in monoculture environments, apical strata of the C. brasiliense crown are more attacked by gall-forming insects [e.g., Eurytoma sp. (Hymenoptera: Eurytomidae)] and Eutetranychus sp. (Trombidiformes: Tetranychidae), which, in turn, can make this strata more stressed due to interspecific competition for space and food. The greater number of A. gossypii and B. tabaci in the basal region may be strongly influenced not only by climatic factors but also by competition between herbivores in the canopy of C. brasiliense as well as by predator avoidance elicited by Chrysoperla sp., predatory bugs, and spiders, which are important herbivore consumers on C. brasiliense. The higher number and frequency of the predators Chrysoperla sp., spiders, and Z. armillatus in the basal part of C. brasiliense agree with the resource availability hypothesis that insect distribution follows the resource abundance in the C. brasiliense crown. Distribution models for natural enemies indicate the preference for canopy parts with higher numbers of their prey, with their populations being dependent on the numbers of these organisms (Oberg et al., 2008OBERG, S., MAYR, S. and DAUBER, J., 2008. Landscape effects on recolonisation patterns of spiders in arable fields. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, vol. 123, no. 1-3, pp. 211-218. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2007.06.005.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2007.06...
; Venturino et al., 2008VENTURINO, E., ISAIA, M., BONA, F., CHATTERJEE, S. and BADINO, G., 2008. Biological controls of intensive agroecosystems: wanderer spiders in the Langa astigiana. Ecological Complexity, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 157-164. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecocom.2007.10.003.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecocom.2007....
; Leite et al., 2021LEITE, G.L.D., VELOSO, R.V.S., SILVA, J.L., AZEVEDO, A.M., SOARES, M.A., LEMES, P.G., MATIOLI, A.L. and ZANUNCIO, J.C., 2021. Vertical extratification of phytophagous and predator mites (Acari) on Caryocar brasiliense (Caryocaraceae) tree canopies. Persian Journal of Acarology, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 121-125. http://dx.doi.org/10.22073/pja.v10i1.64192.
http://dx.doi.org/10.22073/pja.v10i1.641...
). Therefore, despite the monodominant stands of C. brasiliense provides huge resource display that attract abundant antagonistic species, these arthropods from higher trophic levels (e.g., spiders) may control herbivores abundance through top-down effects, which in turn may allow C. brasiliense to survive. But the net effects of herbivory and herbivore predator occurrence on C. brasiliense survival should be further investigated.

5. Conclusions

Distribution of sucking species A. gossypii and Bemisia tabaci are vertically stratified along with the canopy structure of C. brasiliense and occur in greater number in the basal strata. These species have the potential for becoming a pest of this plant. Predators’ distribution follows the resource availability and preferred C. brasiliense tree parts with a higher abundance of prey, which might diminish the impact of herbivores on this C. brasiliense monodominant stand. This knowledge will be important to carry out the sucking insects and their predators sampling in future commercial plantations of this plant. It suggests as preliminary sampling plan for sucking insects and their predators on C. brasiliense leaf the following: assess eight new leaves, with completely expanded blade (two per cardinal orientation) in the basal part in 10 plants per plot (1000 plants/plot).

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the Dr. A.D. Brescovit (Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brasil) (Arachnida), Dr. C.R.S. Silva (Aphididae) and Dr. A.L.B.G. Peront (Pseudococcidae) (Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Paulo, Brasil), Dr. L.B.N. Coelho (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil) (Cicadellidae), and Dr. P.S.F. Ferreira (Hemiptera) (Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brasil), by species identifications. The vouchers are IBSP 36921–36924 (Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brasil) for spiders, and 1595/02 and 1597/02 (CDZOO, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Paraná, Brasil) for insects. We also acknowledge the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for financial support.

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Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    17 Jan 2022
  • Date of issue
    2024

History

  • Received
    29 June 2021
  • Accepted
    24 Nov 2021
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