Description
Azorean biodiversity has become relatively well understood thanks to significant scientific contributions over the past three decades. This research has produced a comprehensive arthropod species checklist for the archipelago, greatly advancing knowledge of species abundance, ecology, and distribution. It has also informed conservation management and research priorities. However, a key functional group—pollinators—remains poorly studied in the Azores. Little is known about their presence across various habitats and islands in the archipelago. Insect pollinators are essential for maintaining ecological balance and provide invaluable ecosystem services, making it crucial to gather basic data on their abundance, distribution, and ecology, as well as insights into the status of their populations. Such information is essential for ensuring the long-term sustainability of terrestrial ecosystems. Additionally, island ecosystems are increasingly impacted by land use changes, climate change, and the introduction of alien species, highlighting an urgent need to assess how these pressures affect pollinators and the process of pollination across the Azores. Here, we present an inventory of pollinator species found across various habitat types on Terceira, covering a gradient of disturbance across 30 sites distributed throughout the island. We identified 2,549 pollinators representing 40 species, primarily from the Diptera and Hymenoptera orders, and recorded new information on species distribution and ecological associations. Many of the taxa are native, including three Azorean endemics, although 14 species are alien to the archipelago. Notably, our use of standardized sampling techniques enabled a comparative analysis of their effectiveness, and, more importantly, the data collected will aid in assessing the impacts of human activities on pollinator abundance and diversity, supporting informed habitat management decisions for pollinator conservation in the Azores.
Enregistrements de données
Les données de cette ressource données d'échantillonnage ont été publiées sous forme d'une Archive Darwin Core (Darwin Core Archive ou DwC-A), le format standard pour partager des données de biodiversité en tant qu'ensemble d'un ou plusieurs tableurs de données. Le tableur de données du cœur de standard (core) contient 137 enregistrements.
1 tableurs de données d'extension existent également. Un enregistrement d'extension fournit des informations supplémentaires sur un enregistrement du cœur de standard (core). Le nombre d'enregistrements dans chaque tableur de données d'extension est illustré ci-dessous.
Cet IPT archive les données et sert donc de dépôt de données. Les données et métadonnées de la ressource sont disponibles pour téléchargement dans la section téléchargements. Le tableau des versions liste les autres versions de chaque ressource rendues disponibles de façon publique et permet de tracer les modifications apportées à la ressource au fil du temps.
Versions
Le tableau ci-dessous n'affiche que les versions publiées de la ressource accessibles publiquement.
Comment citer
Les chercheurs doivent citer cette ressource comme suit:
Boieiro M, Oliveira R, Costa R, Borges P A V (2024). Unveiling Azorean Pollinators: A Critical Step for Biodiversity and Conservation. Version 1.0. Universidade dos Açores. Samplingevent dataset. http://ipt.gbif.pt/ipt/resource?r=pollinators_terceira&v=1.0
Droits
Les chercheurs doivent respecter la déclaration de droits suivante:
L’éditeur et détenteur des droits de cette ressource est Universidade dos Açores. Ce travail est sous licence Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0.
Enregistrement GBIF
Cette ressource a été enregistrée sur le portail GBIF, et possède l'UUID GBIF suivante : db765f95-20f4-49ef-8fe4-b57228200a2e. Universidade dos Açores publie cette ressource, et est enregistré dans le GBIF comme éditeur de données avec l'approbation du GBIF Portugal.
Mots-clé
Occurrence; alien species; flower visitors; island biodiversity; island endemics; generalist species; Macaronesia; pastures; Specimen
Contacts
- Fournisseur Des Métadonnées ●
- Créateur ●
- Personne De Contact
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9087-091X
- Créateur
- Créateur
- Fournisseur De Contenu ●
- Fournisseur Des Métadonnées ●
- Créateur ●
- Personne De Contact
Couverture géographique
The study was carried out in Terceira (Azores Archipelago, Portugal)
| Enveloppe géographique | Sud Ouest [38,613, -27,383], Nord Est [38,814, -27,021] |
|---|
Couverture taxonomique
The study targeted the local flower visitors, specifically the insect groups often considered to be the most important pollinators, like bees, bumblebees, ants and wasps (Hymenoptera), butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera), beetles (Coleoptera), and larger-size flies (Diptera). Other arthropod groups are also included as bycatch.
| Phylum | Arthropoda (artropods) |
|---|---|
| Order | Hymenoptera (bees, bumblebees, ants and wasps), Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Diptera (flies) |
Couverture temporelle
| Date de début / Date de fin | 2023-07-26 / 2023-09-07 |
|---|
Données sur le projet
Here, we present an inventory of pollinator species found across various habitat types on Terceira, covering a gradient of disturbance across 30 sites distributed throughout the island. We identified 2,549 pollinators representing 40 species, primarily from the Diptera and Hymenoptera orders, and recorded new information on species distribution and ecological associations. Many of the taxa are native, including three Azorean endemics, although 14 species are alien to the archipelago. Notably, our use of standardized sampling techniques enabled a comparative analysis of their effectiveness, and, more importantly, the data collected will aid in assessing the impacts of human activities on pollinator abundance and diversity, supporting informed habitat management decisions for pollinator conservation in the Azores
| Titre | Pollinator abundance and diversity in different habitat-types of Terceira Island (Azores, Portugal) |
|---|---|
| Identifiant | POLLINET_TERCEIRA |
| Financement | Main funding for research and fieldwork was obtained from FCT-UIDB/00329/2020-2024 DOI 10.54499/UIDB/00329/2020 (Thematic Line 1 – integrated ecological assessment of environmental change on biodiversity) and Azores DRCT Pluriannual Funding (M1.1.A/FUNC.UI&D/010/2021-2024). Data curation and open access of this manuscript were supported by the project: FCT-UIDB/00329/2020-2024 DOI 10.54499/UIDB/00329/2020. |
| Description du domaine d'étude / de recherche | The study was carried out in Terceira (Azores Archipelago, Portugal) and covered three different habitat-types of this island (intensive pastures, semi-natural pastures and naturalized vegetation). The different habitat-types correspond to a gradient of human disturbance from intensive pastures (most disturbed) to naturalized vegetation (less disturbed). Thirty sampling sites (10 per habitat-type) were selected throughout the island to sample the pollinators. |
| Description du design | In this study, we employed three sampling techniques: observing pollinators along 50-meter linear transects, pan trapping, and vegetation sweeping. Sampling was conducted across the 30 study sites on sunny or partly cloudy days, with no rain and minimal wind, as these conditions are optimal for observing pollinators. |
Les personnes impliquées dans le projet:
- Auteur
- Auteur
- Auteur
- Auteur
Méthodes d'échantillonnage
Transect sampling was conducted along 50-meter linear transects, 2 meters wide (100 m² per site), between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Each transect was walked at a consistent pace, and pollinators found on flowers or in flight were identified on the spot whenever possible. If identification to species level was not feasible in the field, specimens were captured for taxonomic confirmation in the laboratory. Pan trapping involved placing two sets of traps at each site, approximately 50 meters apart—one at the start and the other at the end of each transect. Pan traps, designed to attract and capture pollinators, are colored to appeal to different groups and were active during peak insect activity. Each set consisted of three plastic containers (11 cm in diameter) in blue, white, and yellow to optimize capture diversity. Traps were filled with water mixed with a few drops of detergent and positioned at the average flower height at each site. They remained in place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., after which insects were collected and transported to the laboratory. Vegetation sweeping was conducted along the same 50-meter transects using a 36 cm diameter entomological net, allowing for the collection of cryptic pollinator species. This technique was applied at all transect sampling sites. Collected insects were placed in vials containing 96% ethanol for later identification in the laboratory
| Etendue de l'étude | The study was carried out in Terceira (Azores Archipelago, Portugal) and covered three different habitat-types of this island (intensive pastures, semi-natural pastures and naturalized vegetation). The different habitat-types correspond to a gradient of human disturbance from intensive pastures (most disturbed) to naturalized vegetation (less disturbed). Thirty sampling sites (10 per habitat-type) were selected throughout the island to sample the pollinators |
|---|---|
| Contrôle qualité | During transect sampling many individuals (e.g. butterflies and hoverflies) were identified to species level on the spot due to their characteristic morphological features. However, most individuals were collected with the help of an entomological net, labelled and stored in vials with ethanol (96%). |
Description des étapes de la méthode:
- The samples with specimens collected in pan traps and captured by sweeping were labelled, stored in vials with ethanol and transported to the laboratory. In the laboratory, the specimens of the target groups were sorted and identified to species level with the help of a stereomicroscope (Leica S9i) and using specific literature.
Données de collection
| Nom de la collection | Entomoteca Dalberto Teixeira Pombo (DTP) |
|---|---|
| Identifiant de collection | DTP |
| Méthode de conservation des spécimens | Alcohol, Dried |
|---|
Métadonnées additionnelles
| Identifiants alternatifs | http://ipt.gbif.pt/ipt/resource?r=pollinators_terceira |
|---|