Les fourmis en France à l'heure de la biodiversité

Abstract

Ants in France at the time of the biodiversity Ants (Family Formicidae) are a major taxon of most terrestrial ecosystems, with a high biomass, high diversity and their interactions with numbers of other plants and animals. The importance of ants for the management of protected areas is often revealed by these interactions, for example, the Maculinea blues are protected butterflies whose larval stages are obligate parasites of the ant genus Myrmica. Alpha diversity of ants in France (incl. Corsica) reaches 213 species, which is high for Europe (compare to Germany with 114 and Switzerland with 141, but Spain plus Portugal reach 299). The Rhone-Alpes region species count should exceed 140, due to a diversity of habitats and climatic zones. Recent changes in systematics, especially with the development of numerical morphological taxonomy combined with genetics, as well as the growing numbers of species inventories carried out by researchers, but mostly by managers of protected area and amateurs, are going to make species counts grow further in the coming years. diversity of ants in France (incl. Corsica) reaches 213 species, which is high for Europe (compare to Germany with 114 and Switzerland with 141, but Spain plus Portugal reach 299). The Rhone-Alpes region species count should exceed 140, due to a diversity of habitats and climatic zones. Recent changes in systematics, especially with the development of numerical morphological taxonomy combined with genetics, as well as the growing numbers of species inventories carried out by researchers, but mostly by managers of protected area and amateurs, are going to make species counts grow further in the coming years.