Ant communities (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Flemish (north Belgium) wet heathlands, a declining habitat in Europe

Abstract

Abstract. During a survey of 23 wet heathland sites in Flanders (north Belgium) in 1999 and 2000, using both manual nest searching and pitfall traps as sampling techniques, we found 28 ant species. One species (Myrmica lonae) was new to the Belgian fauna and several rare species were encountered. Three ecological groups could be distinguished based on soil preference: the first group of species was characteristic of sandy soil, the second contained species that were more numerous on peat soil (with Sphagnum spp.), and the third group of species had no soil preference. Ant nest numbers increased strongly between 1999 and 2000, especially on the plots that were inundated during the winter of 1999-2000, but the number of ant species did not differ significantly between years. Ant nest density showed an optimum at a Purple Moor-grass (Molinia caerulea) cover of about 45%; the number of species did not show such an optimum. Pitfall traps yielded more species than manual nest searching; in particular temporary social parasites, spe cies with a large foraging range and winged females from the surrounding habitats were missed by the latter technique. Finally, we give some recommendations for the conservation of, and suitable management measures for, ants on wet heathland.

Invasive alien plants affect grassland ant communities, colony size and foraging behaviour

“…In July 2006, we randomly selected seven plots of 100 m 2 (10 9 10 m) in each grassland (in total, 35 plots in invaded grasslands and 35 in non-invaded ones) and searched the ant colonies manually (Maes et al 2003) by examining all the possible nest sites. One plot was checked for a period of around 2 h by two observers.…”

Phylogeny, divergence-time estimation, biogeography and social parasite–host relationships of the Holarctic ant genus Myrmica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

“…Many species reach locally high numbers, and thus profoundly influence ecological communities through predation, seed dispersal, soil turnover and a plethora of symbiotic relationships (Hölldobler and Wilson, 1990). In boreal and temperate regions, ant assemblages usually include one or several species of the genera Formica, Lasius, Camponotus, Leptothorax and Myrmica (Dlusskij, 1981;Francoeur, 1983;Savolainen et al, 1989;Gallé, 1991;Heinze, 1993;Punttila et al, 1996;Maes et al, 2003;Czechowski and Czechowska, 2006;Palladini et al, 2007). Myrmica are generalist zoophages and trophobionts, foraging mainly above ground (Arnoldi, 1968), and their omnipresence is seen in their relatively high species diversity and ecological versatility.…”

The effect of topsoil removal in restored heathland on soil fauna, topsoil microstructure, and cellulose decomposition: implications for ecosystem restoration

“…Heathland is a traditional habitat in Western Europe (De Smidt 1979;Webb 1998) and parts of Northern America (Oberndorfer and Lundholm 2009) with very characteristic plants and animals (Delettre et al 2008;Lin et al 2007;Maes et al 2003;Telfer and Eversham 1996). In most countries, the present area covered with this vegetation type is only a fraction of the area covered around 1900 (Härdtle et al 2009), and heathland is now considered an EU priority habitat for conservation.…”