Darkling beetles as environmental bioindicators in Northeastern Patagonia

CHELI GERMÁN HORACIO; FLORES GUSTAVO ERNESTO; MARTÍNEZ FERNANDO; MARTÍNEZ ROMÁN NICOLÁS; CARRARA RODOLFO

Simposio; Fourth International Tenebrionoidea Symposium; 2015

Darkling beetles are among the most abundant and diversearthropods in arid Patagonia. In recent years the knowledge of itsbiodiversity and ecology in northeastern Patagonia has been increasedsubstantially, highlighting their ecological importance and improvingthe understanding of the functioning of these fragile ecosystems. Thisreport presents a practical application of the study of tenebrionidbiodiversity in northeastern Patagonia, highlighting its importanceas environmental bioindicators at local and regional level throughthe development of three practical examples. It is widely known thatdesertification is a major conservation problem in the arid Patagonia,and that grazing is their main cause. As a first study case it is showedthat darkling beetles are good bioindicators for monitoring the environmental effects of sheep grazing at local scale in northeasternPatagonia. At the same time, it is showed the utility of this communityto build environmental classifications, demonstrating that thesebeetles are sensitive to environmental heterogeneity at the regionallevel. Finally it is explored the value of these beetles for monitoringthe environmental effects of fire, the main natural disturbance factorin these environments, even for long time periods since the eventhave occurred. We believe that the inclusion of this animal group onmanagement plans and monitoring of this region will strengthen itslong-term preservation