Spatio-temporal patterns of ground-dwelling ant assemblages in a lowland rainforest in southeast Cameroon

Deblauwe, Isra; Dekoninck, Wouter

doi:10.1007/s00040-007-0952-7

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…As expected, the ant composition of grassland sites remained distinct from reference sites in T1 and T2, demonstrating a persistent difference in ant composition. Habitats displaying different patterns of temporal change have also been observed in other studies of ant assemblages (Deblauwe & Dekoninck 2007; Barrow & Parr 2008; Castro et al 2012). These differences were attributed to variable environmental conditions between habitats and the influence of this on food resources, nest sites, and predators.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Epigaeic invertebrate diversity of post‐mining revegetation evaluated by comparison with adjacent remnant woodlands

Houston

Black

Merritt

2023

Restoration Ecology

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This study evaluated the validity of invertebrate diversity for evaluating the condition of minesite rehabilitation. Because the aim of rehabilitation of mined lands in this region is to establish a self‐sustaining ecosystem that resembles “bushland,” a variety of remnant woodlands in the vicinity of the minesite were selected as reference sites. Reference sites encompassed a range of soil types (alluvial, coarse‐textured, or clay) and understorey structural types (grassy, grass, and shrub or shrubby). Grassland sites (cleared woodlands) were also sampled to provide a negative control. Epigaeic invertebrates of three rehabilitation sites were compared with five reference sites and three grassland sites using pitfall traps over 6 years. Sites were sampled annually and the annual data within each of two time periods (T1: 2008–2010 and T2: 2011–2013) were pooled. Ants, beetles, and springtails were identified as morphospecies, providing site species richness and composition data. Springtail metrics of all three habitats, reference, rehabilitation, and grassland, resembled each other in T1 as well as T2, indicating that rehabilitation rapidly provided suitable conditions for this group. In contrast, the ant and beetle composition of rehabilitation sites differed significantly from that of reference sites in T1 but not T2, although only ants matched the expected negative control with grassland sites remaining distinct from reference sites in both time periods. Thus, ant assemblages of rehabilitation sites show a positive trajectory toward native woodlands and away from grasslands. These findings demonstrate that rehabilitation sites are developing diverse invertebrate assemblages comparable to local remnant woodlands in relatively short time frames.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Epigaeic invertebrate diversity of post‐mining revegetation evaluated by comparison with adjacent remnant woodlands

Houston

Black

Merritt

2023

Restoration Ecology

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“…Rather than comparing the number of species between two communities one species at the time, we considered the total occurrence of all species simultaneously. Canonical correspondence analysis was used to compare differences in species composition among vegetation types (Deblauwe & Dekoninck ). Analyses were done with SAS (SAS ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Published studies focused on ant diversity in the forest with little attention to the other dominant vegetation types, such as fallows and mixed‐crop fields (Watt et al . , , Deblauwe & Dekoninck ,b). The objective of this study is to test the hypothesis that ant diversity and ant functional groups are altered by the conversion of forest to mixed‐crop fields.…”

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confidence: 99%

Ant Diversity in Dominant Vegetation Types of Southern Cameroon

et al. 2014

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Ants have been shown as particularly affected by land disturbance through deforestation and conversion of forest to agriculture. The effect of land use change on ant diversity in the Congo Basin is not well known. We conducted intensive sampling along a gradient of increasing vegetation disturbance to test the effect of habitat disturbance on ant diversity and Functional Groups composition. Sampling was conducted in 30 plots (5 study sites 9 3 habitat 9 2 plots/habitat), replicated six times in 1 year. In each plot, ants were monitored with pitfall traps, quadrats and baits. We recorded 237 ant morphospecies grouped in 10 subfamilies and 43 genera. Myrmicaria opaciventris was the most abundant species followed by Anoplolepis tenella. Forest had greater ant diversity compared with fallows and mixed-crop fields. Functional groups were dominated by Opportunists, followed by Omnivorous Arboreal Dominants and Generalized Mymicinae. Their composition was not affected by the disturbance, but occurrence of Specialist Predators decreased with increasing disturbance. Occurrence of Generalized Myrmicinae, Opportunists and Subordinate Camponotini increased with disturbance. These results indicate that forest conversion into mixed-crop fields reduce ant diversity. It can also increase abundance of species with generalized diet that predominates where stress and disturbance limits other ants.

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“…No studies have investigated temporal variation in ant elevational diversity. Ant species density and abundance, however, are known to shift with season in a range of habitats (Andersen, ; Kaspari & Weiser, ; Deblauwe & Dekoninck, ). Typically, greater species density and abundance are observed at the time of year which has greater humidity, temperatures or forage availability (Whitford, ; Andersen, ; Kaspari & Weiser, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, this seasonal flux of diversity may be modulated by other environmental factors. For example, the response of ant communities to different seasons can depend on the vegetation type sampled (Deblauwe & Dekoninck, 2007;Barrow & Parr, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevation–diversity patterns through space and time: ant communities of the Maloti‐Drakensberg Mountains of southern Africa

Bishop

Robertson

Rensburg

et al. 2014

Journal of Biogeography

101

108

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Aim Patterns of biological diversity are often investigated across space but little work has attempted to explore the consistency of such observations through time. Here, our aim was to understand the patterns of diversity for a functionally critical taxon, the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), through space and time using an extensive dataset collected across an elevational gradient. In addition, we evaluated the importance of two key postulated drivers of elevational diversity patterns: temperature and available area.Location The Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains of southern Africa.Methods We sampled epigaeic ant communities biannually for 7 years (2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012) at eight different elevational sites. We then used an information theoretic approach combined with generalized linear mixed models to: (1) describe diversity patterns through space and time; (2) assess the importance of different abiotic drivers; and (3) understand how much spatio-temporal variation can be explained by these drivers. Simple regression approaches were also used to test for differences in seasonal variation along the elevational gradient.Results We found clear mid-elevational peaks of species density and evenness measures. Abundance patterns were complex. The spatial distributions of all three metrics changed across seasons and years. Temperature variables had important roles in explaining both species density and abundance patterns, whilst species density was also influenced by available area. In conjunction, we found much greater seasonal variability in species density at low elevations. This variation was independent of differences in species pool size. Main conclusionsWe found patterns of ant diversity that are strongly modulated by temporal change. There was a consistent and strong signature of seasonality on the elevation-diversity patterns of the ants, whilst annual changes throughout the study period had a weaker influence. We conclude that both spatial and temporal patterns are driven primarily by temperature, with only a weak influence of available elevational area. This study is the first to describe the spatio-temporal distribution of a suite of community-level metrics along an elevational gradient and implies that temporal variation should be considered more carefully in studies of invertebrate diversity, particularly with respect to elevation and the mechanisms that may be maintaining diversity patterns.

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Spatio-temporal patterns of ground-dwelling ant assemblages in a lowland rainforest in southeast Cameroon

Cited by 10 publications

References 17 publications

Epigaeic invertebrate diversity of post‐mining revegetation evaluated by comparison with adjacent remnant woodlands

Epigaeic invertebrate diversity of post‐mining revegetation evaluated by comparison with adjacent remnant woodlands

Ant Diversity in Dominant Vegetation Types of Southern Cameroon

Elevation–diversity patterns through space and time: ant communities of the Maloti‐Drakensberg Mountains of southern Africa

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