Comparison of the Ant Assemblages in Three Phytophysionomies: Rocky Field, Secondary Forest, and Riparian Forest—A Case Study in the State Park of Ibitipoca, Brazil

Juliane Floriano Santos Lopes,Noelle Martins Dos Reis Hallack,Mariana Silva Brugger,Roberto Da Silva Camargo,Laila Fieto Ribeiro,Tatiane Archanjo De Sales,Isabel Neto Hastenreiter

doi:10.1155/2012/928371

Juliane Floriano Santos Lopes, Noelle Martins Dos Reis Hallack + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/928371

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Abstract

Ant assemblages are almost all related with the vegetation composition and so can provide us important information for conservation strategies, which are especially relevant to an environmentally protected area. We sampled the ant fauna in three different phytophysionomies in order to verify if the composition of ant species is different among the areas, especially because one of the areas is a Rocky Field and there is little information about the ant fauna in this habitat. A total of 8730 individuals were registered and an NMDS analysis showed that the ant assemblies are different at the three phytophysionomies (Rocky Field, Riparian Forest, and Secondary Forest). This study shows that the species that compose the ant assemblies in different phytophysionomies are a reflex of the environment, supporting the hypothesis that the vegetational composition results in different compositions in the ant assembly. Vegetal composition is determinant in the formation of the litter and consequently in the occurrence of ant species that depend on this layer of organic matter for nesting and foraging.

Highlights

Ants exert important effects in most ecosystems due to their abundance, population stability, and foraging activity [1, 2]
A total of 8.730 individuals were collected, belonging to 46 species, 20 genera, and eight subfamilies: Ecitoninae, Ectatomminae, Heteroponerinae, Ponerinae, Formicinae, Dolichoderinae, Pseudomyrmecinae, and Myrmicinae, providing a list of ant species that occur in the Parque Estadual do Ibitipoca (PEIb) (Table 1)
The greatest number of species was recorded for Riparian Forest, followed by Rocky Field and Secondary Forest, listing as exclusive species of Riparian Forest: Pheidole sp6, Strumigenys louisianae, Brachymyrmex sp2, Paratrechina sp1, and Labidus sp1

Summary

Introduction

Ants exert important effects in most ecosystems due to their abundance, population stability, and foraging activity [1, 2]. Some of their main activities are the nutrient cycling and control of other invertebrate populations [3] They participate actively in the composition of vegetation through seeds dissipation [4, 5], which gives them great importance in recovering degraded areas [6]. Besides their ecological importance, the Neotropical ants fauna are still little studied, especially if we consider the region of “Mata Atlantica” (Atlantic Forest) which occupies only 7% of its original area, according to the Ministry of Environment data [7]. According to Delabie et al [10] perusal of recent papers

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