A comparative study of ant diversity under three coverages in a Neotropical coffee landscape

Abstract

The coffee cultivation has displaced natural vegetation and its associated biological diversity. The present study describes the diversity of ground-dwelling ants on eight plantations where coffee is grown in the shade (SHD), eight plantations where coffee is grown under unshaded coffee (SUN) and four patches of forest (FOS) in a coffee-growing region of Colombia. The research was conducted in transects composed of 12 sampling stations, each of which employed active collection, pitfall traps and litter sifting. Nine habitat variables were analyzed to characterize each site, and these values were related to the diversity of ants and functional groups. A total of 92 morphospecies were collected. Myrmicinae was the subfamily with the highest representation. The sample coverage presented a deficit of less than 5 %. The rank abundance curves exhibited differences in the ant assemblages. The ant communities found in the forest exhibited greater diversity and a larger number of exclusive species than the communities found in locations of other land uses; the SHD and SUN communities were characterized by 80.3 % and 62.3 %, respectively, of the diversity found in the forest communities. The functional similarity index as adapted for guilds by Sørensen reveals a high degree of similarity in the structure of their ant communities, but less so in their composition.The shaded coffee plantations have a richer and more equitable ant fauna than the exposed coffee plantations, reinforcing the idea that shade cultivation favors the establishment of ant fauna and, consequently, ecological functionality.

Rove beetle diversity and coffee agroecosystems in the Colombian Andes

“…The reduction of rove beetle diversity according to the intensification of coffee plantation coincides which that reported for ants (Armbrecht et al, 2005; Gallego‐Ropero et al, 2009; García‐Cárdenas et al, 2018; Urrutia‐Escobar, & Armbrecht, 2013); necrophagous beetles (Scarabaeidae and Trogidae; Mora‐Aguilar, & Montes de Oca, 2009) and other taxonomic groups (Perfecto et al, 1997; Philpott et al, 2008; Pineda et al, 2005). The reduction of species diversity could be associated with the complete removal of the original forest canopy trees, and the decreased availability of refuge sites and food resources (Armbrecht et al, 2005).…”

“…Native forest patches are immersed in the coffee matrix and have played an important role in the maintenance dynamics of exclusive species in the Andean agricultural landscapes (Arenas‐Clavijo, & Armbrecht, 2018; García‐Cárdenas et al, 2018; Urrutia‐Escobar, & Armbrecht, 2013; Zabala et al, 2013). In the study area, the native forest patches were small fragments highly interspersed with secondary vegetation.…”

“…Therefore, the local and landscape heterogeneity of Colombian Andes may be an advantage for staphylinids in sun coffee crops (unpublished data). Some Colombian Andes studies have reported that ant species typically collected in the native forest have also been captured in sun coffee plantations in Cauca (Arenas‐Clavijo, & Armbrecht, 2018; García‐Cárdenas et al, 2018) and Risaralda department (Zabala et al, 2013). For dung beetles, sun coffee plantations also showed a high species richness and representativeness of 50% of the forest species (Cultid‐Medina, & Escobar, 2016).…”

“…This region is also characterized by the highest levels of biodiversity and regional endemism (Etter, & Van Wyngaarden, 2000; Young et al, 2002). The Andean sun‐grown coffee plantations have also had a negative impact on bird and ant communities (Armbrecht, & Perfecto, 2003; Armbrecht et al, 2006; Borrero, 1986; García‐Cárdenas et al, 2018; Perfecto, & Vandermeer, 2015); although it does not seem to be a general pattern for several insect groups (Cultid‐Medina, & Escobar, 2016; Muriel, & Kattan, 2009; Zabala et al, 2013).…”

A checklist of the non-leaf-cutting fungus-growing ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Colombia, with new biogeographic records

“…Distribution. Apterostigma goniodes is distributed from southern Mexico throughout Central America to Colombia (Lattke 1997;Castro et al 2018;García-Cárdenas et al 2018).…”