Seasonal Dynamics Of Ant Communities In Forest Ecosystems: Statistical Analysis And Ecological Insights

Abstract

A seasonal diversity was conducted in the forest of Bagepalli range of Chikkaballapur forest of Karnataka, India from August 2022 to August 2023. 21 species of ants were observed in this range belonging to 15 genera by following three methods such as pitfall traps, handpicking and bush beating. The abundant subfamily was Formicinae with 5 genera and under Myrmicinae, two genera were observed under the subfamily Ponerinae and one genus each from Subfamilies Pseudomyrmicinae and Dolichoderinae. The most abundant species were found to be Camponotus compressus followed by Oecophylla smaragdina. From the collection of ants few invasive species were also observed such as Anoplolepis gracilipes and Plagiolepis sp.. Two mathematical indices were followed and those were Shannon-Weaver Index and Simpson Index to study the diversity and compare the species richness from the three seasons – summer, monsoon and winter, and a statistical data was formed, the abundance in species were also observed to study which species were dominant and during which season. The maximum diversity was observed during the monsoon season followed by the summer and the least diversity was during the winter. The ants usually prefer a moist environment. The study assumes that the ant diversity can predict the environment.