Relations between the design and management of Senegalese orchards and ant diversity and community composition

Ants: Major Functional Elements in Fruit Agro-Ecosystems and Biological Control Agents

“…Their use as diagnostic tool in orchards is a key element for orchard functioning since it is relatively straightforward. To confirm the hypothesis that orchard design and management practices affect ant community composition in Senegalese mango-based ecosystems, Diamé et al [8] have shown that Monomorium salomonis was closely associated with high irrigation, fertilization and pesticide use, whereas Paltothyreus tarsatus was associated with greater tree richness, high local ground coverage by the tree canopy, more leaf litter and great variation in the local tree planting density. Ants have developed strong associations with different organisms in their environment, and notably mutualistic interaction relationships with some plants [64,65].…”

“…The genus plays a key role in integrated pest management (IPM) programmes against fruit crop pests in Australia [92,103]. The presence of O. longinoda in African orchards offers the possibility of developing IPM programs against various fruit tree pests, especially against fruit flies (Tephritidae), a pest of economic importance in mango orchards [8]. The tradition of using ants as biological control agents against crop pests is the oldest known example of biological control.…”

“…When considering competition for space or habitat occupation in ant communities, the result can either be positive or negative to tree crops [127]. Habitat simplification, or monoculture, leading to a low plant diversity generally creates conditions which select only dominant ants [8] with possible negative impacts from hemipteran-tending depending on the ant species involved [132,155].…”

“…They are countless and their importance comes as much from their number as it does from the social behavior associated with that number. They play a fundamental role in agro-ecosystem functioning and provide multiple services such as biological control [2], plant pollination [3], soil bioturbation [4,5], and bioindication [6], along with providing a diagnostic tool in orchards [7,8] or animal and plant biodiversity conservation [1]. The multiplicity of their roles is linked to the great diversity of their group compared to other animal taxa [6,9].…”

Ant diversity inhabited oil palm plantations in a peatland in Sumatra, Indonesia

“…In addition to oil palm plantations, studies of ant diversity have been carried out in many plantation habitats, including coffee (Urrutia-Escobar and Armbrecht 2013), mango (Carvalheiro et al 2012;Diame et al 2015), citrus (Calabuig et al 2015;Martínez-Ferrer and Campos-Rivela 2017), rubber (Hosoishi et al 2013), and eucalyptus (Suguituru et al 2011;de Queiroz et al 2020). This is due to the simplification of the agroecosystems because industrialization of agriculture can lead to loss of animal biodiversity related to both vertebrates and invertebrates (Urrutia-Escobar and Armbrecht 2013; de Queiroz et al 2020).…”