Ant Diversity Studies 2018

The number of contemporary publications that focus on ant communities and ant biodiversity shows that these topics continue to be strong areas of interest. This page lists 2018 publications that focus on these topics.

Ant Diversity Publications 2017

A - L (by first author)

 * Achury, R. and A. V. Suarez. 2018. Richness and Composition of Ground-dwelling Ants in Tropical Rainforest and Surrounding Landscapes in the Colombian Inter-Andean Valley. Neotropical Entomology. 47:731-741. doi:10.1007/s13744-017-0565-4

Tropical rainforests are characterized by having high structural complexity, stratification, and species diversity. In Colombia, tropical rainforests are critically endangered with only 24% of their area remaining. Forest fragments are often valued based on the presence of vertebrate taxa despite that small habitat remnants may still harbor diverse invertebrate communities. We surveyed the ant fauna associated with rainforest fragments and their surrounding landscape elements (including mature forests, flooded forests, gallery forests, live fences, and pastures) in the Magdalena River watershed. Pitfall traps and litter samples were used to estimate ant richness and diversity, and to compare ant composition among landscape elements. We found 135 species from 42 genera, representing 16% of the species and 43% of the genera known for Colombia. Our surveys also uncovered 11 new ant records for the Colombian inter-Andean region and 2 new records for the country of Colombia: Mycocepurus curvispinosus (Mackay) and Rhopalothrix isthmica (Weber). The highest species richness was found in forest-covered sites, and richness and diversity was lower in the disturbed landscapes surrounding the forest patches. Species composition varied significantly between all habitat types, but was most similar between forest types suggesting that a loss of structural complexity has the greatest effect on ant communities. Across our study sites, ten species showed the greatest response to habitat type and could qualify as indicator taxa for this region. We conclude by discussing the value of conserving even small forests in this landscape due to their ability to retain high diversity of ants. -

M - Z (by first author)
The effect of environmental variability on species richness, community structure, and daytime activity of ants along a disturbance gradient was examined at El Cielo Biosphere Reserve, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The study site was delimited by LANDSAT satellite images. Ants were evaluated using pitfall traps from 0800 to 1800 every hour for four consecutive days in August 2016. In total, 1190 individuals of 20 species and seven subfamilies were obtained. Six species responded positively to the disturbed environment during the morning, with variation between assessment days. The daytime activity of ant species was variable during the day along the disturbance gradient. Solenopsis geminata was the species that showed the most activity during most of the day in the study. Abundance of species differed between most environments each hour. The total variation explained by the first two axes of the relationship analysis of species abundance and environmental attributes was 83% (Axis 1: Temperature and humidity = 64%, Axis 2: Rocks = 19%). S. geminata and Forelius pruinosus were the species that responded significantly to the variables evaluated. The results suggested that environmental variability along a disturbance gradient determines the establishment of the niche and the diurnal activity profile of each species throughout the day and between days. -
 * Rodriguez-de Leon, I. R., C. S. Venegas-Barrera, M. Vasquez-Bolanos, A. Correa-Sandoval, and J. V. Horta-Vega. 2018. Richness, Community Structure, and Diurnal Activity of Species of Ants along a Disturbance Gradient at El Cielo Biosphere Reserve, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Southwestern Entomologist. 43:919-938.


 * Salles, L. F. P., A. V. Christianini, and P. S. Oliveira. 2018. Dirt roads and fire breaks produce no edge effects on litter-dwelling arthropods in a tropical dry-forest: a case study. Journal of Insect Conservation. 22:647-657. doi:10.1007/s10841-018-0091-7

Edge effects threaten organisms and ecological processes in habitat remnants, but they have been poorly studied in non-humid forests such as cerradão, a tropical dry forest sometimes derived from fire-suppressed savanna in Brazil. The diverse ecosystem functions performed by arthropods may be disrupted by edge effects, and there is pressing need for more studies on this subject. We sampled fragments of cerradão facing either a road or fire breaks, assessing edge effects in: beta diversity and community composition of epigaeic (litter-dwelling) arthropod orders, ant species, and ant functional groups; ant species richness and diversity; leaf litter depth; and colony residence time of a predatory ground-dwelling ant, Odontomachus chelifer (Ponerinae). None of the variables measured differed between edge and interior of the sites sampled. Dry forests have high micro-climatic variations caused by discontinuities in the canopy cover and, as such, changes in abiotic variables in cerradão edges might not be as clear as those observed in tropical rainforests. Our study demonstrates that edge effects may not be so prevalent in cerradão facing roads or fire breaks, which possibly increases the chances of survival of a higher fraction of the original arthropod fauna compared to rainforest fragments.

-
 * Santos, L. A. O., A. Bischoff, and O. A. Fernandes. 2018. The effect of forest fragments on abundance, diversity and species composition of predatory ants in sugarcane fields. Basic and Applied Ecology. 33:58-65. doi:10.1016/j.baae.2018.08.009

Habitat loss and fragmentation have gradually caused loss of diversity and consequently the decline of ecological services. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of tropical forest fragments as natural habitats (river valley fragments and plateau fragments) on the community of predatory and omnivorous ants in nearby sugarcane fields. Twenty fields adjacent to these fragments were selected and evaluated one (dry season) and four months (rainy season) after harvest. In each field, ants were sampled in five linear plots (10 m inside the fragment, 0 m (field path between field and fragment), 5 m, 50 m and 100 m inside the crop fields). Each plot comprised ten sardine baits in a row parallel to the field edge. Species richness and frequency of ant species decreased with increasing distance from the forest fragments. Inside fields, species richness and frequency were higher during the period of vegetative growth (rainy season) than after harvest (dry season). Ant communities of sugarcane fields and forest fragments were more similar later in the season than directly after sugarcane harvest suggesting recolonization of the fields from the fragments. Several ant species were limited to forest fragments after harvest but occurred later in the season also in sugarcane fields confirming the potential contribution of fragments to the recolonization process and therefore to biological control of sugarcane-dominated pest insects.