Polistinae

Polistinae diversity

A total of 2274 wasps from Polistinae were collected, grouped into 11 genus and 24 species ( Table 2). Polybia Lepeletier, 1836 was the most diverse with seven species, followed by Polistes Latreille, 1802 with four species. In contrast, Mischocyttarus de Saussure, 1853 , Apoica Lepeletier, 1836 , Synoeca de Saussure, 1852 , Brachygastra Perty, 1833 , Charterginus Fox, 1898 , and Protopolybia Ducke, 1905 were represented by only one species each ( Table 2).

Agelaia Lepeletier, 1836 was recorded in all three fragments during both climatic seasons (dry and rainy), while Brachygastra , Mischocyttarus , and Synoeca (RLF) ; Apoica , Polistes , Parachartergus Ihering, 1904 (RCM); and Metapolybia , Parachartergus , Polistes , and Synoeca (FLC) were the least frequent. In the same vein, the most frequent species was Agelaia centralis in all three fragments during both seasons, while the least frequent were Polybia ignobilis , Polistes major colombianus , Polistes billardieri , and Metapolybia docilis (RLF) ; Polistes rufidens , Parachartergus colobopterus , and Apoica flavissima (RCM) ; and Polistes myersi (Bequaert 1934) and Protopolybia scutellaris (FLC) .

RLF recorded the highest species richness (22 species), followed by RCM and FLC with ten each. Richness peaked in RLF during the rainy season (17 species) and was lowest in RCM during the dry season (5 species). The highest abundance was observed in FLC during the dry season (94 individuals), and the lowest in the same fragment during the rainy season (55).

Alpha diversity ( α)

The highest sampling coverage was recorded during the rainy season in RCM (0.9872 ≈ 99%), while the lowest was observed during the dry season in RLF (0.8971 ≈ 90%). In terms of 0 D, the highest effective number of species (17 species) was recorded for RLF during the rainy season, while the lowest was observed in RCM during the dry season (5 species). When analyzing species’ richness, no differences were found between sites during the dry season ( Fig. 4 View Figure 4 ), but RLF was significantly different from the other two TDF fragments during the rainy period based on confidence intervals (α = 0.05) ( Fig. 4 View Figure 4 ). On the other hand, in terms of common species ( 1 D), the highest diversity was observed in RLF during the rainy season (10.27), and the lowest in RCM (2.54) during the dry season; however, no differences were recorded between sites. The diversity of abundant species in the three fragments during the dry season did not show differences. The same pattern was observed for diversity based on dominant species ( 2 D) ( Fig. 4 View Figure 4 ).

Beta diversity ( β)

Considering the exclusive species, the highest value (10) was recorded in RLF, and the lowest value (1) in FLC. However, RLF and RCM shared nine species, RLF and FLC eight, and RCM and FLC six, while all three fragments shared five species each. On the other hand, high values of beta diversity (Jaccard dissimilarity) were observed. The highest dissimilarity was recorded between RLF and FLC (0.66), with similar values of nestedness and species turnover (0.33 = 33%); while the lowest dissimilarity was reported between FLC and RCM (0.57), with the net value explained by turnover ( Fig. 4 View Figure 4 ). Similarly, when comparing climatic periods (dry and rainy) for each fragment, the highest values were recorded in RCM (0.75 = 75%), where turnover (0.57) was greater than nestedness (0.13). On the other hand, the lowest value of beta diversity (0.40 = 40%) was reported in FLC, of which 0.25 corresponded to species turnover and 0.15 to nestedness ( Fig. 5 View Figure 5 ).