Diversidade taxonômica e funcional de Diptera (Insecta) em gradientes altitudinais da Mata Atlântica

Abstract

Diptera is one of the most diverse insect orders, with over 150,000 described species, and possesses great ecological diversity, which enables taxonomic and functional comparisons in studies relating communities to environmental gradients, such as altitudinal ones. In the Neotropical region, the richness of dipterans is high, but knowledge of dipterans in tropical mountain ecosystems still has gaps. This study investigated the dipterofauna along two gradients in the Atlantic Forest: in Itatiaia National Park (PNI) and Serra dos Órgãos National Park (PARNASO), using Malaise traps. Sampling showed that a longer trap deployment time (30 days) efficiently captures both common and rare taxa, providing a more faithful representation of local diversity compared to the shorter periods evaluated (10 and 20 days). The response of Diptera diversity to altitudinal gradients followed a nonmonotonic (hump-shaped) pattern with peaks at intermediate altitudes. Factors such as temperature and vegetation cover at high altitudes acted as environmental filters, influencing the distribution and abundance of families. Beta diversity analysis revealed low turnover and high nestedness, indicating that higher altitude communities are subsets of those found at lower altitudes. Functionally, altitude influenced adult trophic guilds, although without a clear pattern of substitution. For a deeper understanding of these and other Diptera communities, molecular identification, such as DNA barcoding, can be a tool to overcome the challenges of the large volume of material from Malaise traps and refine taxonomic resolution.