title: Taxonomic and Functional Resilience of Grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Caelifera) to Fire in South Brazilian Grasslands.
abstract: Fire is a frequent disturbance in grassland ecosystems enabling variability in habitat characteristics and creating important environmental filters for community assembly. Changes in vegetation have a large influence on herbivore insect assemblages. Here, we explored the responses of grasshoppers to disturbance by fire in grasslands of southern Brazil through a small-scale experiment based in paired control and burned plots. The resilience of grasshoppers was assessed by monitoring changes to their abundance, taxonomic, and functional parameters along time. Burned patches have been already recolonized by grasshoppers 1 month after fire and did not differ in terms of abundance and richness from control areas in any evaluated time within 1 year. Simpson diversity decreased 1 month after fire due to the increased dominance of Dichroplus misionensis (Carbonell) and Orphulella punctata (De Geer). In this period, grasshoppers presented in average a smaller body and a larger relative head size; these are typically nymph characteristics, which are possibly indicating a preference of juveniles for the young high-quality vegetation, or a diminished vulnerability to predation in open areas. Further, at 6 months after fire grasshoppers with smaller relative hind femur and thus lower dispersal ability seemed to be benefitted in burned patches. Finally, 1 year after fire grasshoppers became more similar to each other in relation to their set of traits. This study demonstrates how taxonomic and functional aspects of grasshopper assemblages can be complementary tools to understand their responses to environmental change.
authors.affiliation: Depto de Ecologia, Lab de Ecologia de Interações, Univ Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves, 9500, Prédio 43422, sala 120, CEP 91540-000, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. claireprf@gmail.com.
authors.forename: C P R
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Ferrando
authors.affiliation: Depto de Ecologia, Lab de Ecologia de Interações, Univ Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves, 9500, Prédio 43422, sala 120, CEP 91540-000, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Podgaiski
authors.affiliation: Depto de Biodiversidade e Ecologia, Lab de Entomologia, Pontifícia Univ Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.
authors.forename: M K M
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Depto de Ecologia, Lab de Ecologia de Interações, Univ Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves, 9500, Prédio 43422, sala 120, CEP 91540-000, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.
authors.forename: M D S
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Mendonça
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D017753:Ecosystem; D005390:Fires; D006110:Grasshoppers; D065948:Grassland; D011157:Population Dynamics
keywords: Acridoidea; disturbance; functional traits; grassland ecosystem