Canopy beetles and flowering trees rely on each other in the Amazon, study
by Liz Kimbrough on 6 January 2021
A canopy scientist collected 859 species of beetles from the canopy species of a healthy lowland tropical rainforest in southern Venezuela.
More than 75% of the beetle species collected were found living exclusively on flowering trees many on trees with small white flowers.
The results suggest that flowering trees play an important role in maintaining canopy beetle diversity in the Amazon and that these trees are being visited by beetles more than any other insect order, including bees and butterflies.
To fight the global decline of insects, “researchers and conservationists must understand the ecological connections between insects and their food plants.”