Community Organisation, Biogeography and Seasonality of Ants in an Open Forest of South-eastern Queensland

Abstract

The biogeography and structure of ant communities were examined over a 12-month period at a dry open eucalypt forest in south-eastern Queensland. Three sites were monitored, each with a distinct long-term burning history: burned annually since 1952, burned periodically since 1973, and unburned since 1946. A total of 89 species from 42 genera was recorded over all trapping periods, with the richest genera being Iridomyrmex, Camponotus and Pheidole, each with eight species. Site species richness was 74, 63 and 43, respectively, at the annually burned, periodically burned and the unburned site. We compared the ant community in this forest with those at other forested sites in eastern Australia. Overall, the south-eastern Queensland community was located on the overlap between the Bassian and Torresian zones (not dominated by either element), while the functional-group composition resembled those of both tropical savannas and cool-temperate woodlands. There were readily discernible differences between sites in terms of biogeographical and functional-group composition; and between the unburned site and both burned sites in terms of abundance and species richness. The relative abundance of Iridomyrmex spp. increased with burning frequency while the relative abundance of Bassian species decreased with burning frequency. Species richness and abundance at the burned sites were similar, but substantially higher than at the unburned site. The community characteristics of the three sites were readily distinguishable, indicating that ant communities may play a valuable role in detecting ecological changes in forested landscapes in south- eastern Queensland.

Response of African savanna ants to long‐term fire regimes

“…Despite the absence of a significant effect of burning on mean ant species richness and abundance between burn plot treatments, there were clear differences in ant assemblage structure, in keeping with many other studies across a wide range of habitats (e.g. tropical savanna woodland, Andersen 1991; dry open forest, Vanderwoude, Andersen & House 1997; temperate forests, York 1999; low‐latitude steppe, Farji‐Brener, Corley & Bettinelli 2002; desert grassland, Zimmer & Parmenter 1998). Across all areas the only pronounced and consistent response that could be detected was between burnt plots and the unburnt control plots, and not between different burning treatments.…”

Variation in fire interval sequences has minimal effects on species richness and composition in fire-prone landscapes of south-west Western Australia

“…Andersen, 1991b;Andersen et al, 2006;Anderson et al, 2007;Bastias et al, 2006Bastias et al, , 2009Collett, 1999;Hanula and Wade, 2003;Parr et al, 2004;Vanderwoude et al, 1997;York, 1999aYork, , 1999bYork, , 2000. Our findings relate to a post-fire period of 4-6 years but do not address the particular situation of species suited to late seral stages.…”

“…For example, maintaining short fire intervals (e.g. ≤5 years) may be detrimental to particular taxa, as has been shown in several manipulative and natural field studies for a range of taxonomic groups, including vascular plants (Bradstock et al, 1997;Cary and Morrison, 1995;Morrison et al, 1995;Watson and Wardell-Johnson, 2004), fungi (Anderson et al, 2007;Bastias et al, 2006Bastias et al, , 2009, vertebrates (Catling, 1991;Woinarski et al, 2004) and invertebrates (Andersen, 1991b;Andersen et al, 2003Andersen et al, , 2006Hanula and Wade, 2003;Orgeas and Andersen, 2001;Vanderwoude et al, 1997;York, 1999aYork, , 1999bYork, , 2000. We suggest that substantial ecological change occurred in most of these studies because short fire intervals were maintained over an extended period of time.…”

Assessing ant assemblages: pitfall trapping versus nest counting (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

“…This agrees with Marsh's (1984) result for a desert ant community. Future studies should consider the dominance hierarchy of the ant assemblage , weather-dependent foraging (Cerdá et al, 1998;Albrecht and Gotelli, 2001), and seasonal changes in activity (Malicky, 1968;Vanderwoude et al, 1997). Shape and size of sampling plots may influence trapping results (cf.…”