Abstract Landscape changes due to forest loss and fragmentation challenges the maintenance of biodiversity. In general, these spatial processes affect the resource availability, species interactions, and microclimatic conditions – shifts that impair ecological assemblages’ diversity. Through beta diversity, it is possible to understand how landscape changes affect assemblages’ temporal variations. This study focused on analysing the effect of landscape composition and configuration on the assemblage heterogeneity of Cetoniinae beetles under a spatial and temporal lens. Beetles were sampled monthly from May to October 2022 using traps baited with fermented fruit in landscapes that comprised a gradient of anthropogenic disturbance. To estimate landscape spatial shifts, the amount of forest and agricultural lands, the amount of edges, and landscape diversity were estimated in the studied sites. A total of 649 individuals of six genera and nine species were collected. Spatially, more diverse landscapes had a higher temporal species turnover compared to less diverse landscapes; landscapes with higher amounts of edges maintained more abundant Cetoniinae assemblages compared to those with lower amounts of edges. Two distinct clusters according to the Cetoniinae assemblage were structured. This work is one of the first studies carried out with Cetoniinae in the Neotropical region. Our results present a first step to disentangle how spatial and temporal factors in a tropical fragmented landscape affect the patterns of Cetoniinae assemblages.
Dominguez-Adame et al. (Thu,) studied this question.