Estratificação vertical de formigas em cerrado strictu sensu no Parque Estadual da Serra de Caldas Novas, Goiás, Brasil

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Vertical stratification of ants in savanna vegetation in the Serra de Caldas Novas State Park, Goiás, Brazil.Formicidae is an abundant group in the soil and is also well distributed in all vegetation strata, representing a good model for studies on vertical stratification of the fauna. The aim of this study was to verify a possible stratification of ant assemblages inhabiting the soil, the lower and the higher vegetation strata. Data was collected in the Serra de Caldas Novas State Park, in an area of Cerrado strictu sensu. Ant collection was performed using pitfall traps. A total of 11 traps were placed in the soil, 17 in the lower vegetation stratum (dominated by shrubs and small trees) and 23 in the higher vegetation stratum (dominated by taller, mature trees). Forty-nine species of ants from 15 genera and five subfamilies were collected. Accumulation curves indicated that there is 37.5% more species in the soil than in mature trees and 35% more species in mature trees than in shrubs/young trees. There was not a clear vertical stratification between the soil and the two vegetation strata. Therefore, the species present in the vegetation tended to represent a nested subset of those found in the soil. Even without a clear vertical stratification, the diversity of ants in the cerrado vegetation is high, and part of this diversity appears to be explained by the fact that some species are specialized in nesting and/or foraging in the soil, while others in the vegetation. KEYWORDS.Ant assemblages, ant-plant interactions, richness, composition, similarity.RESUMO. Formicidae é um grupo abundante no solo e também largamente distribuído em todos os estratos da vegetação, constituindose em um bom modelo biológico para estudos de estratificação vertical. O objetivo geral do trabalho foi determinar os padrões de estratificação da assembléia de formigas em três estratos verticais (solo, estrato arbustivo e estrato arbóreo). Os dados foram coletados no Parque Estadual da Serra de Caldas Novas, em uma área de Cerrado strictu sensu. A coleta de formigas foi realizada utilizando-se armadilhas do tipo pitfall. Foram instaladas 11 armadilhas no solo, 17 em plantas do estrato arbustivo e 23 em plantas do estrato arbóreo (uma armadilha por planta). Foi coletado um total de 49 espécies de formigas, pertencentes a 15 gêneros e cinco subfamílias. Através de curvas de acumulação de espécies, pôde-se verificar que existem 37,5% a mais de espécies no solo do que nas árvores e 35% a mais de espécies nas árvores do que nos arbustos. Uma análise de agrupamento indicou uma similaridade mediana entre as espécies de formigas do solo e vegetação (estrato arbustivo e arbóreo). Uma análise de aninhamento demonstrou que as espécies presentes no solo são um subconjunto das espécies presentes nos dois estratos de vegetação. Mesmo sem uma estratificação vertical muito clara, a alta diversidade de formigas encontrada no cerrado pode ser explicada em parte pelo fato de algumas espécies serem especializadas em forragear e/ou nidificar no solo...

Ground-Dwelling and Vegetation Ant Fauna in Southern Brazilian Grasslands

“…biomass, plant height, plant richness, and their spatial heterogeneity), and resource availability (i.e. presence of flowers, fruits, seeds, plants with extrafloral nectaries) could attract ant communities to forage and nest in the vegetation (Campos et al, 2008), which in its turn depends on the management employed on each site (Overbeck et al, 2007;Overbeck et al, 2016). Looking at the ant composition ordination diagram, a greater dispersion among vegetation samples is detected when compared to ground samples.…”

“…The differential use of a specific strata or microhabitat is commonly found in ant communities in several systems (Vasconcelos & Vilhena, 2006;Schmidt & Solar, 2010;Wilkie et al, 2010), including non-forest ecosystems as savannas (e.g. Cerrado: Campos et al, 2008). Similarly to the habitat heterogeneity hypothesis (Sarty et al, 2006), habitat vertical partition commonly increases species diversity in the ecosystems by reducing competition by resources and allowing coexistence of more species.…”

Senescent stem-galls in trees of Eremanthus erythropappus as a resource for arboreal ants

“…Although an outstation serves the same basic purpose as polydomy (i.e., the purpose of bringing workers closer to the food source), outstations differ from domes in that they contain no immature members of the colony (Debout et al 2007;Lanan et al 2011). As demonstrated by Campos et al (2008) the nesting of ants is strongly influenced by the areas in which they have chosen to forage. For example, in order to optimize the efficiency of resource exploration and/or to occupy a desirable area, the ant species in question may create a polydomous nest or construct additions such as outstations (Debout et al 2007;Lanan et al 2011).…”

Composition and Richness of Arboreal ants in Fragments of Brazilian Caatinga: Effects of Secondary Succession

“…diurnal to nocturnal pattern) (Dáttilo et al, 2015), expand the foraging area to alternative strata (e.g. vertical stratification) (Dejean et al, 2003;Campos et al, 2008;Silva et al, 2014), or move to more favorable adjacent habitats to search for resources (Neves et al, 2010b). For example, trees in early successional stages would be occupied by both ground-dwelling and arboreal ants, whereas exclusive arboreal ants predominate in late-stage trees (Dejean et al, 2003).…”