Ant species diversity in ciliary forest and gallery forest areas in central Brazil

Abstract

Ants make up an important group of insects of the Cerrado in terms of biomass, number of individuals, and ecological impact. The main goals of this study were to quantify the species richness and species diversity of the family Formicidae in two riparian Cerrado physiognomies: Ciliary Forest and Gallery Forest, and to evaluate the effectiveness of two collection techniques for these organisms. The study was conducted during the dry season, comprising the months of May to October 2012, in the municipality of Quirinópolis, Goiás State, Brazil. Samples were made using two capture techniques: sardine baits and pitfall traps. Manual collection was employed to extend the range of faunistic composition of the ants. We collected 24 species of ants in the Gallery Forest and 23 in the Ciliary Forest. The genus Megalomyrmex was the most representative, being present in 49.46% of the samples, and secondly the genus Pheidole, with 15.36% of the total individuals captured. From a total of 10,917 individuals, 9140 were captured using the bait technique, 1738 with traps, and 39 individuals through manual collection. Similar results were found in the Cerrado of Paineiras, with 45 ant species distributed in 16 genera belonging to 5 subfamilies.

Share and Cite:

de Oliveira, J. , da Silva, D. and Santana, F. (2014) Ant species diversity in ciliary forest and gallery forest areas in central Brazil. Advances in Entomology, 2, 24-32. doi: 10.4236/ae.2014.21005.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] Alonso, L.E., Agosti, D., Majer, J.D. and Schultz, T.R. (2000) Biodiversity studies, monitoring, and ants: An overview, In: Ants: Standard Methods for Measuring and Monitoring Biodiversity, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, 1-8.
[2] Hughes, L. and Westoby, M. (1990) Removal rates of seeds adapted for dispersal by ants. Ecology, 7, 138-148. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1940254
[3] Leal, I.R. and Oliveira, P.S. (2000) Foraging ecology of attine ants in a neotropical savanna: Seasonal use of fungal substrate in the Cerrado vegetation of Brazil. Insectes Sociaux, 47, 376-382. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/PL00001734
[4] Agosti, D., Majer, J.D., Alonso, L.E. and Schultz, T. (2000) Standard methods for measuring and monitoring biodiversity. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.
[5] Oliveira-Filho, A.T. and Ratter, J.A. (2002) Vegetation physiognomies and wood flora of the Cerrado biome. In: Oliveira, P.S. and Marquis, R.J., Eds., The Cerrados of Brazil: Ecology and Natural History of a Neotropical Savanna, Columbia University, New York, 91-120.
[6] Borlaug, N.E. (2002) Feeding a world of 10 billion people: The miracle ahead. In: Bailey, R., Ed., Global Warming and Other Eco-Myths, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Roseville, 29-60.
[7] Ribeiro, J.F. and Walter, B.M.T. (1998) Fitofisionomias do bioma Cerrado. In: Sano, S.M. and Almeida, S.P. Eds., Cerrado: Ambiente e Flora, EMBRAPA-Cerrados, Planaltina, 89-166.
[8] Dias, B.F.S. (1992) Alternativas de desenvolvimento dos Cerrados: Manejo e conservao dos recursos naturais renováveis. Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (Ibama), Fundacao Pró-Natureza (Funatura), Brasília.
[9] Machado, R.B., Ramos, N.M.B., Harris, M.B., Lourival, R. and Aguiar, L.M.S. (2004) Análise de lacunas de protecao da biodiversidade no Cerrado. Anais IV Congresso Brasileiro de Unidades de Conservacao, Fundacao O Boticário de Protecao à Natureza, Curitiba, 29-38.
[10] Machado, R.B., Ramos, N.M.B., Pereira, P., Caldas, E., Goncalves, D., Santos, N., Tabor, K. and Steininger, M. (2004) Estimativas de perda da área do Cerrado brasileiro. Conservation International do Brasil, Brasília.
[11] Alho, C.J.R. (1990) Distribuicao da fauna num gradiente de recursos em mosaico. In: Pinto, M.N., Ed., Cerrado: Caracterizacao, Ocupacao e Perspectivas, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, 205-254.
[12] Conservacao Internacional (2005) Hotspots revisitados. www.conservation.org.br/publicacoes/files/HotspotsRevisitados.pdf
[13] Kempf, W.W. (1978) A preliminary zoogeographical analysis of a regional ant fauna in Latin America. Studia Entomologica, 20, 43-62.
[14] Ribas, C.R., Schoereder, J.H., Pic, M. and Soares, S.M. (2003) Tree heterogeneity, resource availability, and larger scale processes regulating arboreal ant species richness. Austral Ecology, 3, 305-314.
[15] Silva, R.R., Brandao, C.R.F. and Silvestre, R. (2004) Similarity between cerrado localities in central and southeastern Brazil based on the dry season bait visitors ant fauna. Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment, 39, 191-199. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01650520412331271783
[16] Esri (2008) Arcgis 9—ArcMap version 9.3 copyright.
[17] Ambiente Brasil. http://ambientes.ambientebrasil.com.br/natural/clima/climaclassificacao_dos_climas_do_brasil.html
[18] Discoverlive (2012) http://www.discoverlife.org
[19] Antweb (2012) http://www.antweb.org
[20] Tavares, A.A. (2002) Estimativas da diversidade de formigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) de serapilheira em quatro remanescentes de floresta ombrófila densa e uma restinga no Estado de Sao Paulo, Brasil. Tese (Doutorado), Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirao Preto, Universidade de Sao Paulo.
[21] BioDiversity Professional (1997) The natural history museum & the Scottish association for Marine science.
[22] Colwell, R.K. (2005) Estimates: Statistical estimation of species richness and shared species from samples. User’s guide and application. http://viceroy.eeb.uconn.edu/estimates/EstimateSPages/EstSUsersGuide/EstimateSUsersGuide.htm
[23] Tavares, A.A., Bispo, P.C. and Zanzini, A.C.S. (2001) Comunidades de formigas epigéicas (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) em áreas de Eucalyptus cloeziana F. Muell e de vegetacao nativa numa regiao de cerrado. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, 45, 251-256.
[24] Brandao, C.R.F. (1990) Systematic revision of the neotropical ant genus Megalomyrmex Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae), with the description of thirteen new species. Arquivos de Zoologia, 31, 411-481.
[25] Brandao, C.R.F. (2003) Further revisionary studies on the ant genus Megalomyrmex Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Solenopsidini). Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia (Sao Paulo), 43, 145-159. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0031-10492003000800001
[26] Fonseca, R.C. and Diehl-Fleig, E. (2004) Riqueza de formigas (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) epigéicas em povoamentos de Eucalyptus spp. (Myrtaceae) de diferentes idades no Rio Grande do sul, Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, Sao Paulo, 48, 95-100.
[27] Silva, R.R. and Silvestre, R. (2004) Riqueza da fauna de formigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) que habita as camadas superficiais do solo em Seara, Santa Catarina. Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia, 44, 11.
[28] Silva, L.B.A. (2006) Composicao, riqueza e raridade de espécies de formigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) em povoamentos de eucaliptos e mata nativa na Reserva Biológica Uniao/IBAMA, P.34 Dissertacao (Mestrado em Ciências Ambientais e Florestais). Instituto de Florestas, Departamento de Ciências Ambientais, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Seropédica.
[29] Santos, M.S., Louzada, J.N.C., Dias, N., Zanetti, R., Delabie, J.H.C. and Nascimento, I.C. (2006) Riqueza de formigas (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) da serapilheira em fragmentos de floresta semidecídua da Mata Atlantica na regiao do Alto do Rio Grande, Brasil. Iheringia, Série Zoológica, 96, 95-101.
[30] Queiroz-Dantas, K.S., Queiroz A.C.M., Neves F.S., Reis- Júnior, R. and Fagundes M. (2011) Formigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) em diferentes estratos numa regiao de transicao entre os biomas do Cerrado e da Caatinga no norte de Minas Gerais. Biota, 4, 17-31.
[31] Coelho, I.R. and Ribeiro, S.P. (2006) Environment heterogeneity and seasonal effects in ground-dwelling ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) assemblages in the Parque Estadual do Rio Doce, MG, Brazil. Neotropical Entomology, 35, 19-29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1519-566X2006000100004
[32] Olson, D.M. (1991) A comparison of the efficacy of litter sifting and pitfall traps for sampling leaf litter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in a tropical wet forest. Costa Rica. Biotropica, 23, 166-172. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2388302
[33] Delabie, J.H.C., Agosti, D. and Nascimento, I.C. (2000) Litter ant comunities of Brazilian Atlantic rain forest region. In: Agosti, D., Majer, J.D., Alonso, L.E. and Scchultz, T.R., Eds., Sampling Ground-Dwelling Ants: Case Studies from de World’s Rain Forests. Bulletin 18, Curtin University School of Environmental Biology, Perth, 1-17.
[34] Silva, R.R. and Lopes, B.C. (1997) Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Atlantic rainforest at Santa Catarina Island, Brazil: Two years of sampling. Revista de Biologia Tropical, 45, 1641-1648.
[35] Bruhl, C.A., Mohamed, M. and Linsenmair, K. (1998) Altitudinal distribution of leaf litter ants along a transect in primary forests in Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 15, 265-277. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0266467499000802
[36] Silva, R.R. and Silvestre, R. (2000) Diversidade de formigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) em Seara, oeste de Santa Catarina. Biotemas, 13, 85-105.
[37] Holldobler, B. and Wilson, E.O. (1990) The ants. Belknap press of Harvard University, Cambridge, 722.?
[38] Bolton, B. (1995) A taxonomic and zoogeographical census of the extant ant taxa. Journal of Natural History, 29, 1037-1056. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222939500770411
[39] Fowler, H.G., Forti, L.C., Brand?o, C.R.F., Delabie, J.H.C. and Vasconcelos, H.L. (1991) Ecologia nutricional de formigas. In: Panizzi, A.R. and Parra, J.R.P., Eds., Ecologia Nutricional de Insetos e suas Implica??es no Manejo de Pragas, Manole, S?o Paulo, 131-223.
[40] Romero, H. and Jaffé, K. (1989) A comparison of methods for sampling ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Savannas. Biotropica, 21, 348-352. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2388285
[41] Feener, D.H. and Schupp, E.W. (1998) Effect of treefall gaps on the patchiness and species richness of neotropical ant assemblages. Oecologia, 116, 191-201. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s004420050579
[42] Breton, J.L., Chazeau, J. and Joudan, H. (2003) Immediate impacts of invasion by Wammania auropunctata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) on native litter ant fauna in a New Caledonian rainforest. Austral Ecology, 28, 204-209. http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1442-9993.2003.01266.x
[43] Carvalho, K.S. and Vasconcelos, H.L. (2002) Comunidade de formigas que nidificam em pequenos galhos da serapilheira em floresta da Amaz?nia Central, Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia, 46, 115-121.
[44] Longino, J.T., Coddington, J. and Colwell, R.K. (2002) The ant fauna of a tropical rain forest: estimating species richness tree different ways. Ecology, 83, 689-702.

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.