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Fruit feeding Cetoniinae community structure in an anthropogenic landscape in West Africa

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Abstract

The potential contribution of palm plantations to the conservation of forest-dwelling Cetoniinae (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) is assessed in southern Benin. Sample plots of 10 aerial traps per habitat type were set in two sites containing a forest patch, a palm plantation and some agricultural land. Overall, 2,217 individuals belonging to 31 species were collected. Typical species of each habitat were identified with the IndVal method (Dufrêne and Legendre 1997). Species were categorized into three habitat-groups: forest specialists (11 species), farmland and open habitat specialists (9 species) and ubiquitous, generalist species found in all habitats (5 species). Only six species were too rare for assessing habitat preference. Palm plantations host a low density of Cetoniinae with no unique species. However, species composition reveals that they are used by forest specialist species that avoid open habitats like farmlands, therefore providing structural connectivity. Cetoniine flower beetles have potential as an indicator group, which can be used in multi-taxa approaches for habitat assessments in Africa. Using species-level metrics, their response to habitat change is clear, including the response of common species. This method is selective, cost-effective in time and materials, and species identification is rather straightforward.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Olivier Dangle for his comments on the first version of the manuscript and John Fogoh Muafor, Director of the Association of Researchers on Biodiversity and Development, Cameroon (ACBIODEV), for his useful contributions in writing this paper. We thank the IFORA project (ANR Biodiversité, France) for financial and material support of this publication. We acknowledge Daniel Gnanvo and the forest staff of Pobé research center for their assistance during the field study. Our colleagues, Philippe Antoine and Sébastien Rojkoff, helped with accurate identification of the material. Our friends Conrad Gillett, Alan Mudge and Gino Nearns helped us greatly in reviewing the English version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Service du Patrimoine Naturel, CP41, 36 rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 75005, Paris, France

    Julien Touroult

  2. IRD, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, BP 1857, Yaoundé, Cameroun

    Philippe Le Gall

  3. UR 072, Laboratoire Evolution, Génomes et Spéciation, UPR 9034, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 91198 Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France et Université Paris-Sud 11, 91405, Orsay Cedex, France

    Philippe Le Gall

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  1. Julien Touroult
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Correspondence to Julien Touroult.

Appendix

Appendix

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Table 5 Flower beetles’ cumulated results from trapping for each habitat in each site, from March 30 2000 to May 14
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Touroult, J., Le Gall, P. Fruit feeding Cetoniinae community structure in an anthropogenic landscape in West Africa. J Insect Conserv 17, 23–34 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-012-9483-2

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