The effects of foraging ants on arboreal insect herbivores in an undisturbed woodland savanna

Abstract

ABSTRACT. A comparison was made of the insect fauna on paired Terminalia sericea, Burkea africana and Ochna pulchra trees; one tree in each pair was treated with Formex® to exclude ants from the canopy, and the other was designated the control. Treatment with Formex banding to exclude ants did not influence plant phenology. Pyrethrum knockdown samples from control trees had generally more insect individuals and insect species than samples from trees where ants were excluded. Formex‐treated trees had significantly less homopterous individuals and species than the control trees. With the exception of ants and Homoptera, there was no difference in the insect guild composition and dominance ranking of various insect taxa, sampled by pyrethrum knockdown, between the control and Formex‐treated trees. T.sericea had significantly greater populations of both sessile and mobile Homoptera on the control trees than on the Formex‐treated trees. A similar trend could be seen on B.africana. There were significantly more sessile homopterans on the control trees of O.pulchra than on the Formex‐treated trees. Low numbers of mobile Homoptera were recorded on both control and Formex‐treated O.pulchra trees, and numbers on control trees were fewer in comparison to numbers of mobile Homoptera on control T.sericea and B.africana trees. It is concluded that the ants have similar effects on the insect communities of trees in a natural, undisturbed savanna as has been demonstrated on trees in agro‐ecosystems, and on plants that are structurally adapted for mutualistic associations with ants. Although slight, leaf damage by some leaf‐feeding insects was greater on trees where ants had been excluded than on control trees that supported foraging ant populations.