Can ants be used as indicators of environmental impacts caused by arsenic?

Abstract

We evaluated ants as bioindicators of environmental impacts caused by arsenic residuals in the soil. We tested the hypotheses that the presence of arsenic in the soil affects: (1) estimates of resources and habitat condition for arboreal and epigaeic ants; (2) species richness of arboreal and epigaeic ants and (3) arboreal and epigaeic ant species composition. Ants were sampled at an inactivated raticide factory in Nova Lima, Minas Gerais, Brasil, which used arsenic as one of its main byproducts. The following environmental variables were measured: bioavailable arsenic concentration in the soil, the number and density of tree species, plant cover and leaf litter depth. The species richness of arboreal ants decreased with increased bioavailable arsenic concentration whilst epigaeic ants increased with arsenic. Arboreal ants were positively related to the number of tree species, which in turn were negatively affected by arsenic. We verified which ants are good bioindicators of arsenic. Independent verification of the influence of arsenic on background environmental variables was fundamental in defining responses of ant communities, as well as in identifying the most effective pathways for the recovery of biological communities in degraded areas.

Taxones superiores de hormigas como sustitutos de la riqueza de especies, en una cronosecuencia de bosques secundarios, bosque primario y sistemas agroforestales en la Amazonía Oriental, Brasil

“…Igualmente, son consideradas ingenieras del suelo , por sus diversas funciones que inciden directa e indirectamente en la estructura y funcionamiento de los ecosistemas (Vasconcelos, 1999;Vasconcelos & Laurance, 2005). Adicionalmente, debido a su resilencia ante perturbaciones antropogénicas, han sido utilizadas como grupo bioindicador de alteraciones ambientales (Pais & Varanda, 2010;Ribas et al, 2012;Guzmán-Mendoza, Castaño-Meneses, & Nuñez-Palenius, 2016).…”

Bioindicadores ambientais: insetos como um instrumento desta avaliação

“…Ceres, Viçosa, v. 61, Suplemento, p. 800-807, nov/dez, 2014 1999; Ribas et al, 2012). Elas foram estudadas em diversos ambientes, como: áreas de reabilitação de minas, na Austrália (Majer & Nichols, 1998), na África do Sul (Majer & Kock, 1992) e no Brasil (Oliveira & Della Lucia, 1992;Majer, 1996;Santos et al, 2008); em áre-as com metais pesados (Ribas et al, 2012); em áreas de cultivo agrícola (Peck et al, 1998); em avaliação de distúrbio em florestas tropicais (Marinho et al, 2002;Delabie et al, 2006;Leal et al, 2012;Miranda et al,2013) e, ainda, em áreas cultivadas tratadas com inseticidas (Couto et al, 2010;Pereira et al 2010) e herbicidas .…”

Myrmecofauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) as a Bioindicator of the Quality of Soils Submitted to the Application of Pig Farming Wastewater

“…Therefore, several studies have shown that ants have potential for use as bioindicators of environmental quality, in natural or altered areas (RIBAS et al, 2012a). Ants have been studied in various types of environments and situations, such as areas subjected to burning (BOSCARDIN et al, 2014); contaminated areas (RIBAS et al, 2012c); agroforestry systems and agroecosystems (GONZÁLEZ-VALDIVIA et al, 2013;RAMÍREZ et al, 2012); crop-livestock systems (CREPALDI et al, 2014); agricultural crops (COUTO et al,. 2010); in the rehabilitation of mined areas and degraded areas (ROSADO et al, 2014, RIBAS et al, 2012b, ROCHA et al, 2015; in revegetation of riparian areas (GOLLAN et al, 2011); and in forest disturbances (LEAL et al,.…”