Work

Arthropod communities of insular (São Miguel Island, Azores) and mainland (Portugal) coastal grasslands

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The data presented here is part of a doctoral project aimed at characterising and comparing arthropod diversity across biotic communities in coastal ecosystems. The present work provides an inventory of the arthropods recorded in two coastal grasslands ecosystems: the Portugal mainland and the Azores. Sampling was conducted on São Miguel Island (Azores Archipelago) as well as in the Sesimbra and Sines regions (Setúbal District, mainland Portugal). Thirty-one plots were set and visited four times, in spring and summer of 2022. The specimens collected were sorted and catalogued into a total of 534 arthropod species and morphospecies. In total, 67 species were common to both ecosystems. A total of 13,515 specimens were counted in the two coastal grasslands. We registered three new records for the Azores (in São Miguel Island), all being exotic: Aritranis director (Thumberg, 1822) (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae), Draeculacephala bradleyi, Van Duzee, 1915 (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae) and Isodontia sp. Patton, 1880 (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae). This publication demonstrates the importance of coastal grasslands as reservoirs for some potentially invasive arthropod species.

Source: Biodiversity Data Journal

DOI: 10.3897/bdj.13.e144915

Authors: Hugo Renato Calado, António Soares, Ruben Heleno, Paulo Borges

Institutions: Universidade dos Açores, Laboratório Associado TERRA, University of Coimbra, International Union for Conservation of Nature (United Kingdom)

Language: English

Topic: Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies

Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Life on land, Life below water

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $485