TY - JOUR AU - Moreira, Rennan G. AU - Fernandes, Geraldo Wilson AU - Almada, Emmanuel D. AU - Santos, Jean C. PY - 2008/08/30 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Insetos produtores de galhas como bioindicadores da recuperação de terras em uma área da Mata Atlântica Brasileira JF - Lundiana: International Journal of Biodiversity JA - Lundiana VL - 8 IS - 2 SE - Artigos DO - 10.35699/2675-5327.2007.23192 UR - https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/lundiana/article/view/23192 SP - 107-112 AB - <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Galling insects may represent an excellent tool to evaluate habitat quality and restoration. We used galling insect species richness to evaluate the success of a project on reforestation in an Atlantic Forest area in southeastern Brazil. We selected 18 study sites from three distinct environments under succession: early stage (3-5 years old abandoned pasture), intermediate stage (10-15 years old), and intermediate stage sites under <em>Myracrodruon urundeuva </em>trees (10-15 years old). The highest galling species richness was found in the intermediate stage sites, followed by areas of early stages, while intermediate sites under <em>M. urundeuva </em>trees supported the lowest richness. The significant difference between areas under <em>M. urundeuva </em>and the other two suggests that this plant negatively impacts the plant community. Personal observations suggest an allelopathic activity of <em>M. urundeuva</em>, decreasing native species establishment, consequently reducing associated herbivore richness. Our results indicate that galling species were efficient tools to evaluate environmental quality in a degraded area of Atlantic Forest.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%;" align="justify"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Keywords: bioindicators, degraded area, insect galls, restoration ecology.</span></span></p> ER -