Relation between ground‐dwelling and arboreal ant diversity in three vegetation types in the humid forest zone of southern Cameroon

Abstract

AbstractThough ant diversity was well documented, relations between ground‐dwelling and arboreal ants were poorly known. It was in this mind that we compared species diversity and composition between ground‐dwelling and arboreal ant in three type of habitats at Mfou, a suburban agglomeration of Yaoundé city in Cameroon. Ants were collected in secondary forests, cocoa farms, and palm groves using pitfall, baits and visual catch. Ant communities were characterised using species richness and Shannon diversity index. Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) and Venn diagrams were used to determine respectively species composition and the number of exclusive and shared species between types of habitats. We recorded 144 ant species belonging to 39 genera and 6 subfamilies. Ground‐dwelling ants were richest and diversified in secondary forests, while arboreal ant fauna was in cocoa farms. Arboreal ant community in palm groves was closed to that found on the ground in all type of habitats. Suggesting that, when a deep modifications occurred in a natural habitat, arboreal ant fauna could not establish permanent colonies. Therefore, trees canopies were colonised by some ground‐dwelling ant species who progressively substituted arboreal ant on the trees. Consequently, arboreal ant became progressively rare with intensification of anthropogenic disturbance and habitat loss.