Are disturbance gradients in neotropical ecosystems detected using rove beetles? A case study in the Brazilian Amazon

•Anthropogenic disturbance on Rove Beetles (RB) composition was investigated.•RB assemblages were sensitive do ecosystem conversion and easy to interpret.•Disturbed ecosystems had detrimental effects on RB specialists.•RB could be used as indicators of change in Neotropical ecosystems.

In the Neotropics, Rove Beetles (Staphylinidae) are known to be especially diverse and abundant, but studies in this region are still incipient and the information is dispersed in the scientific literature. In this work the responses of the Rove Beetles to gradients of disturbance in representative ecosystems of the Brazilian Amazon were evaluated. Specifically, we assessed the possibility of using patterns in richness, abundance and taxonomic diversity of Rove Beetles as anthropogenic disturbance indicators. The obtained results show that the Rove Beetles richness was sensitive to the structural changes induced by increasing anthropogenic disturbance. Additionally an increasing trend in community complexity from more to less disturbed ecosystems was observed. Differences in responses can be explained by differences in the intensity and extent of the change from pristine systems. Overall, the composition of Rove Beetles communities is ecosystems' specific and sensitive to anthropogenic induced structural changes and management actions and, therefore, should be considered a valuable ecological indicator for assessing the extent ecosystems' disruption in the Neotropics.