Ants, an ecologically successful and numerically dominant group of animals, play key ecological roles as soil engineers, predators, nutrient recyclers, and regulators of plant growth and reproduction in most terrestrial ecosystems. Further, ants are widely used as bioindicators of the ecological impact of land use. We gathered information of ant species in the Atlantic Forest of South America. The ATLANTIC ANTS data set, which is part of the ATLANTIC SERIES data papers, is a compilation of ant records from collections (18,713 records), unpublished data (29,651 records), and published sources (106,910 records; 1,059 references), including papers, theses, dissertations, and book chapters published from 1886 to 2020. In total, the data set contains 153,818 ant records from 7,636 study locations in the Atlantic Forest, representing 10 subfamilies, 99 genera, 1,114 ant species identified with updated taxonomic certainty, and 2,235 morphospecies codes. Our data set reflects the heterogeneity in ant records, which include ants sampled at the beginning of the taxonomic history of myrmecology (the 19th and 20th centuries) and more recent ant surveys designed to address specific questions in ecology and biology. The data set can be used by researchers to develop strategies to deal with different macroecological and region‐wide questions, focusing on assemblages, species occurrences, and distribution patterns. Furthermore, the data can be used to assess the consequences of changes in land use in the Atlantic Forest on different ecological processes. No copyright restrictions apply to the use of this data set, but we request that authors cite this data paper when using these data in publications or teaching events.
The partitioning of gamma diversity into its alpha and beta components has been used to quantify the effects of natural habitat reduction on species diversity and distribution. Ant assemblages respond to anthropogenic changes, allowing their use as an indicator of biodiversity conservation in human‐modified landscapes. We investigated the responses of gamma, alpha, and beta diversity of ant assemblages to a forest cover gradient in southwestern Brazilian Amazon. Our prediction was that increasing forest cover would increase gamma diversity, which in turn is driven more by increasing beta diversity than alpha diversity along the forest cover gradient. Additionally, we expected that increasing beta diversity would be mainly driven by species replacement. We sampled ants within 12 circular areas (radius: 500 m) with different forest cover percentages in Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, state of Acre, southwestern Brazilian Amazon. Gamma and beta diversity, but not alpha diversity, responded positively to the forest cover gradient. Additionally, species replacement was the main driver of beta diversity along the forest cover gradient. Areas with low levels of forest cover probably offer limited variation in habitats, resources, and conditions and, thus, harbor a low number of ant species that can easily disperse spatially and leading to species composition simplification. We recommend the use of diversity partitioning for indicator groups as an efficient way to monitor biodiversity and control the process of biota simplification at the human‐modified landscapes, showing the response of species diversity and distribution to human impacts. Abstract in Portuguese is available with online material.
Brazil counts with one the largest ant diversity in the world. But, given its continental dimension and uneven scientific development process, there are still several gaps in the knowledge of this biodiversity. This fully applies to research on ant diversity in the state of Acre, southwestern Brazilian Amazon. Since 2014, in Acre, ants are being sampled by Rede BIA project, which aims to cover this gap. Thus, our main goal is to present the status of ant diversity studies in Acre regarding their progress and their contribution to the ant fauna knowledge, based on scientific papers and grey literature. We found 17 studies to Acre, which encompass a time range of 10 years, and a total of 338 species recorded. The studies are concentrated mainly in the southern and eastern parts of the state. Ground pitfall trap is the most used sampling technique. We point out that adding more sites to Rede BIA’s collecting efforts, plus focusing samplings in poorly studied habitats and ecosystems, especially in the western and eastern parts of the state will provide a lot of new data on ant species occurrence to Acre and to Brazil.
1. Food production in Amazonian traditional societies often occurs through shifting cultivation that uses few pesticides and relies on ecosystem services provided by natural enemies. However, these sustainable agricultural practices are being threatened by increasing livestock and mechanised agriculture.2. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the conversion from Amazon Forest to anthropogenic land uses (shifting cultivation and pasture) on αand β-diversity, functional groups, and ant-mediated predation.3. Three types of habitats were sampled: forest (eight sites), shifting cultivation (five sites) and pasture (seven sites). The ant assembly of each site was sampled using pitfall traps in the epigeic and hypogeic strata. Beetle larvae were used to evaluate the predation function.4. Negative effects on epigeic ants and functional groups were found to be greater in sites where anthropogenic land use was more intensive (pasture) than in those where it was less intensive (shifting cultivation). Furthermore, this change increased the predation of insects in shifting cultivation and pasture compared to that in forest. This increase in insect predation was due to high activity of Ectatomma brunneum Smith, 1858, an environmental indicator for shifting cultivation and pasture.5. The increase in the number of predations in shifting cultivation and pasture may be beneficial from the perspective of biological pest control. However, this relationship needs to be better understood because the high presence and predatory activity of Ectatomma brunneum in these environments may be one mechanism by which αand β-diversity decrease through antagonistic interactions and dominance.
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