Ecological communities in white‐sand Amazonian rainforests are sensitive to deforestation—A dung beetle case.

Campinarana is a fragile white‐sand rainforest ecosystem in Amazonia, where mining activities have been an important driver of landscape transformation, threatening biodiversity. Despite its importance for biodiversity, few studies have investigated insects' response to environmental disturbance in campinaranas.Here, we assess the differences between the dung beetle assemblages of undisturbed and disturbed campinaranas. The studied campinaranas differ substantially in their vegetation structure, the disturbed one strongly affected by mining activities. Dung beetle taxonomic diversity, abundance, biomass, and assemblage structure (species' distribution and relative abundances) from total and functional group perspective and indicator species were recorded in undisturbed and disturbed campinaranas.A total of 1592 beetles belonging to 42 species were collected in undisturbed campinaranas and 459 beetles from 11 species in disturbed campinaranas. Undisturbed campinaranas encompassed higher diversity, abundance, number of indicator species, and biomass, and their assemblages' structure were distinct from disturbed campinaranas. The abundance of roller dung beetles was the only parameter that was not affected by habitat type.Our results suggest that undisturbed campinaranas host sensitive ecological communities, with most of the species unable to cope with the changes brought by mining activities. In addition, dung beetle species can be a useful indicator for monitoring environmental disturbance in campinaranas. Considering the extension of the latter across the Amazon, this study provides information to support public policies to mitigate losses caused by deforestation in this hyperdiverse area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]