First results of the Global Malaise Trap program in Argentina: Strikingly high biodiversity in the southern extreme of the Atlantic Forest

BUKOWSKI, BELÉN; HANISCH, PRISCILA E.; LIJTMAER, DARÍO A.; TUBARO, PABLO L.

Guelph

Congreso; 6th International Barcode of Life Conference; 2015

Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph

Background: Environmental disturbance and global climate change are modifying the species composition of terrestrial communities before we get to know them. Notably, most species in terrestrial ecosystems are arthropods and therefore reliable tools for their collection and identification are necessary. DNA barcoding can provide this. In this context, the Global Malaise Program has been established a few years ago and Argentina is actively participating in it, with traps placed in four different locations throughout the country. In particular, the first Malaise trap was deployed in Misiones province in the southern extreme of the Atlantic Forest, generating the first results in South America.Results: Insects were collected every week during two years. In total, 34,103 specimens were obtained from the first 22 bottles sampled throughout the first year, which constitutes the highest number of specimens collected by a Malaise trap in the global project so far. A total of 30,771 barcode sequences were obtained and most of them received a BIN assignment. The order Diptera dominated in specimen abundance (77%) followed by Hemiptera (8%) and Lepidoptera (5%). For these 22 samples, 5,646 unique BINs were generated and 92% of them were new to BOLD. The species accumulation curve suggests that a large proportion of species have yet to be sampled, and the Chao?s estimate of species richness suggests that almost twice as many BINs could be found by malaise trapping in this location.Significance: The results of this first trap alone allowed us to add many new species into the growing library of DNA barcodes. It also contributed to the knowledge of the insects of southern South America. The strikingly high number of insects (and BINS/species) collected by this single trap clearly indicates that even though northeastern Argentina harbors the southern extreme of the Atlantic Forest, its biodiversity is remarkable.