Diversity and Functions of Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University Campus of Bangladesh

Abstract

Ants play a crucial role as ecosystem engineers and natural enemies of insect pests in different forests and agroecosystems. Bangladesh’s varied agroecosystem harbors a diverse ant community, it can be utilized to track recent changes to the agricultural environment. However, it’s utilization is deemed due to insufficient taxonomic checklist of ant fauna and their diversity pattern in various ecosystems in Bangladesh. This research aimed to measure the taxonomic and functional diversity of ants in an agroecosystem. Sampling was done by time-unit sampling (TUS) during March- April 2021 in different cropland habitats in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU) campus. A total of 172 individuals of 20 genera under 5 subfamilies were identified, of which Myrmicinae was the richest subfamily with 9 genera, while Camponotus is the most dominant genus in the ecosystem. Four habitats from BSMRAU campus significantly contributed on ant species richness and diversity matrix as revealed through Principal component analysis (PCA). The functional diversity of identified ant genera was explained using the results retrieved from Shannon Diversity Index, Species Evenness index and Effective number of species (ENS). The Shannon-Wiener diversity index of Field pathway (2.5202) is highest, followed by Entomology field (2.38086), agroforestry field (1.37315) and lowest in rice field (0.16794). Field pathway had the highest value due to comprising several types of vegetation alongside and non-ploughed soil. Rice field has only rice crops that were grown in a wetland; hence, water causes the lowest value. The evenness index (>0.75) implies the probability of stable communities in all the tested habitats except in rice field (0.242), which indicates a depressed community structure and is strengthened by the ENS value as 12.4, 10.8, 3.9, and 1.18 in the field pathway, in entomology field, agroforestry field, and rice field, respectively. The findings generated a comprehensive ant checklist and diversity indices with indicator species to measure the land type transformation and restoration in the agroecosystem of Bangladesh for future research.

Population dynamics of Trichoderma harzianum in bio- fortified compost against soil-borne potato diseases

“…Significantly higher yields of 154.23% and 88.78% were achieved with the T 7 treatment compared to Control 2 and Control 1, respectively. Similar results were also observed by many researchers who attended to the increasing yield of potato and other crops by applying Trichoderma fortified compost (Rahman, 2013, Nitu et al, 2016, Rubyet and Bhuiyan, 2016Salam, 2017).…”

“…Chicken litter has long been used as a soil amendment to provide nutrients for plant growth, increase organic matter in the soil, improve microbial populations, and control pathogens. Poultry compost fortified with T. harzianum was successfully applied in controlling different soil-borne diseases of tomato, (Rahman, 2013;Salam, 2017), Bush bean (Liton et al, 2019), Chilli (Simi et al, 2019;Roy et al, 2022), lentil (Das et al, 2019). These studies standardized the mixing ratio of poultry compost and the dose of Trichoderma fortified compost.…”

“…A similar pattern was also observed in disease severity. Poultry compost mixed with T. harzianum isolate efficiently controlled seedling mortality and reduced disease incidence and disease severity in tomato (Rahman, 2013 andSalam, 2017).…”

Whole-genome sequence of Proteus faecis CR112, isolated from the gut of a healthy Labeo rohita

“…One-gram homogenates of the intestinal segments were serially diluted and spread onto de Man, Rogosa, and Sharpe (MRS) agar plates and incubated at 28°C for 48 h. CR112 was picked from the growing colonies on the MRS plate. This strain exhibited in vitro antagonistic activities against highly virulent fish pathogenic Aeromonas veronii and Enterococcus faecalis strains and prevented motile Aeromonas septicemia in L. rohita ( 2 ) and Oreochromis niloticus ( 3 ), as well as streptococcosis in O. niloticus ( 3 ). The animal experiments were granted ethical approval by the Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (IBGE) ethical review committee (ERC), with the approval number IBGE-ERC-008.…”

Exploring the impact of biogenic zinc oxide nanoparticles derived from Lantana camara L. on alleviating heat stress in wheat

“…The impact of elevated temperatures is particularly concerning for wheat production in South Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh (Mondala et al, 2013). Increased temperatures lead to growth retardation, reduced cell division and elongation, resulting in dwarf plants, diminished root growth, and damage to cellular and protein structures (Rahman 2004). Photosynthetic enzymes become deactivated, generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) that hinder growth, development, and yield, marked by reduced grain size and number.…”