Ants that Frequently Colonize Twigs in the Leaf Litter of Different Vegetation Habitats

Fernandes, Tae Tanaami; Souza-Camapana, Débora Rodrigues; Silva, Rogério Rosa; Morini, Maria Santina de Castro

doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v65i2.2742

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…(Table 1). All these species are considered common inhabitants of twigs, because they are ant that colonized 10 or more twigs in a given leaf litter area (Fernandes et al 2018). Our results show also that P. sarcina is the species that most uses twigs in the leaf litter as a resource, which corroborates the results of Fernandes et al (2018).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

“…occupies twigs with the largest diameter, but in less proportion. Possibly P. sarcina is the most generalist in the twig occupation, which corroborates the results found by Fernandes et al (2018). These authors have shown that this species occupies most of the twigs in Atlantic forest areas.…”

Section: Speciessupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Working in areas of native forest and Eucalyptus plantations with a developed understory, Fernandes et al (2018) showed that P. sospes Forel, 1908 occupies twigs with the same diameter, regardless of the diversity of twigs in the native forest. However, the same was not observed for P. sarcina Forel, 1912.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Twigs occupied by Pheidole Westwood, 1839: Is there a difference between species?

et al. 2020

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Pheidole is a genus with wide geographical distribution and diversity, especially in the leaf litter of neotropical forests, where nests are found at the soil-litter interface, in the soil and vegetation, among leaves, seeds, and twigs. Despite the availability of twigs and Pheidole species diversity in the leaf litter, most of this resource is not occupied, which suggests the existence of filters. This study analyzes whether twigs occupied by Pheidole species differ for the outer structure and anatomy of the wood. Twigs were collected from preserved Atlantic Forest fragments in southeastern Brazil. Twigs with Pheidole colonies were measured and the wood anatomy analyzed. We collected 224 twigs with Pheidole colonies, but the analysis was done at 41% due to wood decomposition. Five species were recorded in these twigs, which differ for the outer structure and anatomy of the wood. These results suggest the existence of preference in the occupation of twigs determined by wood structure.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Speciessupporting

confidence: 90%

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Twigs occupied by Pheidole Westwood, 1839: Is there a difference between species?

et al. 2020

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“…Decision-making in ants often involves nest-site selection (Pratt & Pierce, 2001), but we cannot conclude that all species in the same genus occupied the same type of nest, since only 3 (27%) out of 11 Pheidole species were found in twigs that shared the same areas and twig hole circumferences. Of these, P. sospes also showed preference for twig diameter, regardless of habitat (Fernandes, Souza-Campana, Silva, & Morini, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Ant Occupation of Twigs in the Leaf Litter of the Atlantic Forest: Influence of the Environment and External Twig Structure

Fernandes

Dáttilo

Silva

et al. 2019

Tropical Conservation Science

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Twig cavities are microhabitats that may be used by different ant species for nesting and colony expansion. However, ants do not colonize all twigs available in the leaf litter, pointing to the existence of environmental or twig-related filters. In this study, we analyzed which environmental and twig attributes affected twig occupation by ants. We surveyed seven plots in six Atlantic forest sites in southeastern Brazil. To characterize the environmental filters, we quantified canopy cover and leaf litter moisture and depth. At the twig level, we measured twig length and diameter and the area and circumference of all holes in each twig. Ant colonies occupied 13.42% of the 4,805 twigs surveyed, and we recorded a total of 52 twig-nesting ant species. Brachymyrmex admotus was the most frequent species. Ant species richness increased with canopy cover and leaf litter moisture and with the relative number of occupied twigs. In addition, we found that ant species richness increased with length and diameter of the twigs, and that twigs with smaller holes were more frequently occupied by ants, regardless of the availability of larger diameter holes. Our work demonstrates that both environmental characteristics and twig morphology can structure occupation of twigs by ants. In addition, we demonstrated that certain species show a preference for certain twig types. We highlight the importance of twigs for maintaining ant diversity and for colony expansion of arboreal species and species inhabiting the leaf litter.

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“…Souza-Campana et al (2017) showed that diameter explained the richness of ant communities in twigs. Some species even colonize same-diameter twigs, regardless of habitat (Fernandes et al, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occurrence of Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in both Leaf Litter and Twigs in Atlantic Forest

Fernandes¹,

Souza-Campana²,

Silva³

et al. 2020

Sociobiology

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Twigs in the litter derived from the fragmentation of tree branches form one microhabitat, where entire colonies of ants, both leaf litter and arboreal species, can be found. The objective was to survey ant species that are presente in both the leaf litter and twigs simultaneously. We describe the nest type, the social structure of the colonies and the trophic guild membership of these species. Samples were collected from 10 preserved fragments of Brazilian Atlantic forest. We used Berlese funnels to collect leaf litter ants and manual collection for twig ants. We recorded 80 ant species; 60 species were in leaf litter samples and 35 species were in twigs. Of the total species, only 15 (20%) occurred simultaneously in the leaf litter and in twigs. Of these species, Gnamptogenys striatula, Pheidole sarcina, P. sospes and Solenopsis sp. 2 were the most frequent among leaf litter dwellers, and Myrmelachista catharinae was the most common arboreal species. Most of these belonged to generalista and predator guilds, with “polydomous nests” and colonies monogynous.

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Ants that Frequently Colonize Twigs in the Leaf Litter of Different Vegetation Habitats

Cited by 11 publications

References 13 publications

Twigs occupied by Pheidole Westwood, 1839: Is there a difference between species?

Twigs occupied by Pheidole Westwood, 1839: Is there a difference between species?

Ant Occupation of Twigs in the Leaf Litter of the Atlantic Forest: Influence of the Environment and External Twig Structure

Occurrence of Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in both Leaf Litter and Twigs in Atlantic Forest

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