Evaluating sampling sufficiency and the use of surrogates for assessing ant diversity in a Neotropical biodiversity hotspot

Vasconcelos, Heraldo L.; Frizzo, Tiago L. M.; Pacheco, Renata; Maravalhas, Jonas B.; Camacho, Gabriela P.; Carvalho, Karine S.; Koch, Elmo Borges de Azevedo; Pujol-Luz, José Roberto

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.06.036

Cited by 20 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…We established a 200 m transect in the middle of each area, and installed 10 sampling points at uniform intervals of 20 m (Cheli & Corley, 2010;Guimarães, Lasmar, Querido, Tanure, & Ribas, 2014;Vasconcelos et al, 2014;Rabello et al, 2015). At each point we installed two pitfall traps, in each pitfall trap we placed 200 ml of solution of water, detergent (0.6 %) and salt (0.4 %).…”

Section: Ant Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can anthropic fires affect epigaeic and hypogaeic Cerrado ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) communities in the same way?

Canedo

Cuissi

Curi

et al. 2016

RBT

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Abstract:Fire occurrences are a common perturbation in Cerrado ecosystems, and may differently impact the local biodiversity. Arthropods are one of the taxa affected by fires, and among them, ants are known as good bioindicators. We aimed to evaluate the effect of anthropic fires on epigaeic and hypogaeic ant communities (species richness and composition) in Cerrado areas with different post-fire event recovery periods. We conducted the study in four Cerrado areas during two weeks of 2012 dry season: one unburned and three at different post-fire times (one month, one and two years). We sampled ants with pitfall traps in epigaeic and hypogaeic microhabitats. We collected 71 ant morpho-species from 25 genera. In the epigaeic microhabitat we sampled 56 morpho-species and 42 in the hypogaeic microhabitat. The area with the shortest recovery time presented lower epigaeic ant species richness (4.3 ± 2.00) in comparison to the other areas (8.1 ± 2.68 species on one year area; 10.3 ± 2.66 species on two years area; 10.4 ± 2.31 species on control area), but recovery time did not affect hypogaeic ant species richness. Regarding ant species composition, fire did not directly affect hypogaeic ant species, which remained the same even one month after fire event. However, two years were not enough to reestablish ant species composition in both microhabitats in relation to our control group samples. Our study is the first to assess anthropic fire effects upon epigaeic and hypogaeic ants communities; highlighting the importance of evaluating different microhabitats, to more accurately detect the effects of anthropic disturbances in biological communities. We concluded that ant communities are just partially affected by fire occurrences, and epigaeic assemblages are the most affected ones in comparison to hypogaeic ants. Furthermore the study provides knowledge to aid in the creation of vegetation management programs that allow Cerrado conservation. Rev. Biol. Trop. 64 (1): 95-104. Epub 2016 March 01.Key words: anthropic burning, brazilian savannah, post-fire recovery, conservation, bioindicators.The Brazillian Savanna (Cerrado) is a biodiversity hotspot presenting many endemic species (Myers, Mittermeier, Mittermeier, Fonseca, & Kent, 2000). Its vegetation can be characterized by sparse trees and continuous grassy fields and is influenced by seasonal rainy periods and various disturbances, with fire figuring as the major one (Huntley & Walker, 1982). Natural fires are common in the Savannas, chiefly caused by lightning reaching small patches in the rainy season (Ramos-Neto & Pivello, 2000), and have great importance in community dynamics maintenance in this biome (Townsend, Begon, & Harper, 2010). Fire can be considered one of the factors that allow the balance between tree and grass density, maintaining the main features of savanna vegetation (Higgins, Bond, & Trollope, 2000).Biological communities of savannas are widely adapted to fire action, having great resistance and resilience to this disturbance. This fact can be attrib...

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Section: Ant Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can anthropic fires affect epigaeic and hypogaeic Cerrado ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) communities in the same way?

Canedo

Cuissi

Curi

et al. 2016

RBT

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“…Por otro lado, a pesar que el TSBF no es indicado como método de muestreo específico para hormigas, las curvas de acumulación de especies indicaron una estimación promedio del 88 % de las especies probables localmente. Estos estimadores utilizados son indicadores de riqueza eficientes en otros estudios de diversidad de Formicidae (Lutinski, Lutinski, Iop, & Garcia, 2013;Vasconcelos et al, 2014). Asimismo, de acuerdo con Melo (2004), son los menos influenciados por el tamaño amostral de las especies.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

¿Refleja Formicidae el impacto de la degradación de los bosques ribereños en la Amazonía Oriental?

Triana

Rousseau

Gutiérrez

et al. 2019

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The increasing anthropogenic pressure on the Eastern Amazon makes the diagnostic of forest degradation imperative, particularly, the effect on key communities within the riparian ecosystems. Formicidae is commonly used in diagnostic and monitoring studies in areas under restoration. This study aimed to determine the impact of riparian forest successional stages (open areas, and, early, intermediate, and advanced succession) on the richness, frequency, and composition of Formicidae. Sampling was performed during both dry and wet seasons, with the TSBF (Tropical Soil Biological and Fertility) method. Collected organisms were identified to species and morphospecies level and the analysis of collector curves determined the method efficiency to represent the ant sub-community. Ant richness and frequency were submitted to generalized linear mixed models to evaluate the effects of season, local, and successional stage. We used linear regressions model to investigate the relationship between richness and frequency of ants with canopy cover and vegetation height. Species composition was represented by the Jaccard similarity index. In total, we observed 1940 individuals grouped into 86 (morpho)species. Analysis of sampling effort suggested that we obtained more than 80% of the probable species richness. Frequency and richness significantly increased following the advanced succession in comparison with the open areas during the dry season. Canopy cover and vegetation height seemed to moderately affect both richness and frequency of Formicidae during the dry season. Intermediate and advanced succession areas presented similar composition with 50 shared species, followed by the areas of early succession with 43, and, anthropic use with 34 shared species. We conclude that the elimination of riparian forests results in a substantial effect on the richness and frequency of Formicidae, with minimum values in open areas during the dry season. Forest areas transformed to agricultural systems suffered losses of 41% and 56% of richness and frequency respectively. Succession restores forest structure and functions thus, favoring re-colonization of ant species. Formicidae reflects forests degradation, and is a key group in monitoring programs for the conservation/restoration of local riparian forests. Agroforestry and silvopastoral systems should be promoted as low impact practices for adjacent lands to riparian forests.

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“…The species richness of arboreal ants sampled in this study (n = 37) can be considered low compared to other studies done in Cerrado or Atlantic Forest, using a similar sampling method. In fragments of Atlantic Forest, for example, species richness may vary from 69 to 153 (Resende et al, 2013;Vasconcelos et al, 2014), whereas in areas of Brazilian savanna (Cerrado) species richness of arboreal ants ranges from 37 to 95 (Ribas et al, 2003;Frizzo et al, 2012). However, for Tropical Dry Forests areas, such as Caatinga, the number of arboreal ants sampled is generally low, ranging from 24 to a maximum of 43 species (Neves et al, 2010c;Neves et al, 2013;Silva et al, 2014), indicating that Caatinga environments, may naturally harbor a smaller ant richness when compared to other environments, probably due to habitat limitations such as drastic variation in resources and conditions during the season and between years (Quesada et al, 2009).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2016

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Ecological succession is a complex processes involving changes in the structure of plant community and it is an important factor determining the structure of arboreal ants assemblages, but little is known about the effects of succession on ant assemblages in regions of Tropical Dry Forests (TDFs), such as the Brazilian Caatinga. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of ecological succession on the richness and species composition of arboreal ants in fragments of Caatinga, testing the following hypothesis: i) the richness of arboreal ants increases along a gradient of forest succession, in response to tree richness and/or density; ii) species composition of arboreal ants differs among stages of forest succession due to differences in vegetation structure in theses stages. This study was conducted in 15 plots distributed in three areas with different stages of secondary succession (early, intermediate and late). Tree density and richness were used as surrogate of vegetation structure. Ants were sampled using the technique of beating the foliage and baited pitfall traps, where five trees were sampled per plot, totaling 75 individual trees sampled. We sampled 37 species of ants, distributed in 16 genera and five subfamilies. Ant richness differed among stages of succession and seasons, with higher number of species in the late succession and rainy period, also increasing with tree richness and density. Besides, there was a distinct composition of ant species among stages of succession and seasons. Results obtained in this study reinforce the importance of using ants as environmental bioindicators, since the sensitivity to environmental variations of this group enables us to differentiate early and late successional stages of forest succession in Caatinga environment.

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Evaluating sampling sufficiency and the use of surrogates for assessing ant diversity in a Neotropical biodiversity hotspot

Cited by 20 publications

References 32 publications

Can anthropic fires affect epigaeic and hypogaeic Cerrado ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) communities in the same way?

Can anthropic fires affect epigaeic and hypogaeic Cerrado ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) communities in the same way?

¿Refleja Formicidae el impacto de la degradación de los bosques ribereños en la Amazonía Oriental?

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

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