산불 후 개미군집의 단기변화

Abstract

Forest fires disturb communities of forest-dwelling insects by killing or dispersal. Species diversity, species composition, and functional guilds of ant communities will be changed following forest fires. A survey of ants was conducted to find changes in ant communities after a large fire occurred in Goseong within Gwangwon province in South Korea in 1996. In total, 1,308 ants representing 16 species were collected; 696 ants representing 15 species were collected at the burned site, and 612 ants representing 13 species were collected at the unburned site. Contrary to the general expectation which predicts a decrease of diversity and abundance after fire, abundance, species diversity, species composition, and functional guilds of ant communities did not differ between the burned site and the unburned site. Furthermore, estimated species richness was significantly higher at the burned site than at the unburned site. However, monthly occurrences of ants (abundant species and pooled) were different between the burned site and the unburned site. Ants were more abundant at the burned sites than the unburned site just after the fire (May 1996). However, they were more abundant at the unburned site than the burned site in autumn (September and October 1996). This phenomenon might be caused by environmental change (e.g., decrease of soil moisture). In conclusion, the fire did not significantly change ant fauna, as fire in spring cannot destroy ant colonies that are wintering in deep soils.