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Ant Genera (ant + genus)
Selected AbstractsBiodiversity recovery during rainforest reforestation as indicated by rapid assessment of epigaeic ants in tropical and subtropical AustraliaAUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2009SCOTT D. PIPER Abstract There is growing interest in the potential for reforestation to assist the recovery of rainforest biodiversity. There is also a need to identify taxonomically tractable groups for use as cost-effective indicators when monitoring the status of biodiversity within reforested sites. Insects are an important component of terrestrial biodiversity but often require considerable resources to sample at species level. Ant genera and generic-based functional groups have been suggested as possible indicators of environmental disturbance. Here we ask to what extent the development of biodiversity is indicated by epigaeic ant genera and functional groups, across different types of reforestation in tropical and subtropical Australia. In each region, we used pitfall traps to sample the ants in replicate sites of: unmanaged regrowth, monoculture and mixed species plantations and ,ecological restoration' plantings, together with reference sites in pasture and rainforest. We recorded 35 epigaeic ant genera (and 4623 individuals) from 50 tropical sites, and 39 genera (and 9904 individuals) from 54 subtropical sites, with 47 genera overall. Community composition of both genera and functional groups differed between pasture and rainforest, although many genera were widespread in both. Reforested sites were intermediate between pasture and rainforest in both regions, and showed a gradient associated with decreasing grass and increasing tree and litter cover. Older monoculture plantations and ecological restoration plantings had the most rainforest-like ant assemblages, and mixed-species cabinet timber plots the least, of the reforested sites. We conclude that ground-active ant genera and functional groups sampled in rapid surveys by pitfall-trapping showed only a modest ability to discriminate among different types of reforestation. Species-level identification, perhaps together with expanded sampling effort, could be more informative, but would require resourcing beyond the scope of rapid assessments. [source] Polyandry and colony genetic structure in the primitive ant Nothomyrmecia macropsJOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2001M. Sanetra The Australian endemic ant Nothomyrmecia macrops is considered one of the most ,primitive' among living ants. We investigated the genetic structure of colonies to determine queen mating frequencies and nestmate relatedness. An average of 18.8 individuals from each of 32 colonies, and sperm extracted from 34 foraging queens, were genotyped using five highly variable microsatellite markers. Queens were typically singly (65%) or doubly mated (30%), but triple mating (5%) also occurred. The mean effective number of male mates for queens was 1.37. No relationship between colony size and queen mate number was found. Nestmate workers were related by b=0.61 ± 0.03, significantly above the threshold under Hamilton's rule over which, all else being equal, altruistic behaviour persists, but queens and their mates were unrelated. In 25% of the colonies we detected a few workers that could not have been produced by the resident queen, although there was no evidence for worker reproduction. Polyandry is for the first time recorded in a species with very small mature colonies, which is inconsistent with the sperm-limitation hypothesis for the mediation of polyandry levels. Facultative polyandry is therefore not confined to the highly advanced ant genera, but may have arisen at an early stage in ant social evolution. [source] Biodiversity recovery during rainforest reforestation as indicated by rapid assessment of epigaeic ants in tropical and subtropical AustraliaAUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2009SCOTT D. PIPER Abstract There is growing interest in the potential for reforestation to assist the recovery of rainforest biodiversity. There is also a need to identify taxonomically tractable groups for use as cost-effective indicators when monitoring the status of biodiversity within reforested sites. Insects are an important component of terrestrial biodiversity but often require considerable resources to sample at species level. Ant genera and generic-based functional groups have been suggested as possible indicators of environmental disturbance. Here we ask to what extent the development of biodiversity is indicated by epigaeic ant genera and functional groups, across different types of reforestation in tropical and subtropical Australia. In each region, we used pitfall traps to sample the ants in replicate sites of: unmanaged regrowth, monoculture and mixed species plantations and ,ecological restoration' plantings, together with reference sites in pasture and rainforest. We recorded 35 epigaeic ant genera (and 4623 individuals) from 50 tropical sites, and 39 genera (and 9904 individuals) from 54 subtropical sites, with 47 genera overall. Community composition of both genera and functional groups differed between pasture and rainforest, although many genera were widespread in both. Reforested sites were intermediate between pasture and rainforest in both regions, and showed a gradient associated with decreasing grass and increasing tree and litter cover. Older monoculture plantations and ecological restoration plantings had the most rainforest-like ant assemblages, and mixed-species cabinet timber plots the least, of the reforested sites. We conclude that ground-active ant genera and functional groups sampled in rapid surveys by pitfall-trapping showed only a modest ability to discriminate among different types of reforestation. Species-level identification, perhaps together with expanded sampling effort, could be more informative, but would require resourcing beyond the scope of rapid assessments. [source] Common names for Australian ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 4 2002Alan N Andersen Abstract Most insects do not have common names, and this is a significant barrier to public interest in them, and to their study by non-specialists. This holds for even highly familiar insect groups such as ants. Here, I propose common names for all major native Australian ant genera and species-groups, as well as for many of the most abundant and distinctive species. Sixty-two genera, 142 species-groups and 50 species are given names. The naming system closely follows taxonomic structure; typically a genus is given a general common name, under which species-group and species names are nested. [source] Impact of Flooding on the Species Richness, Density and Composition of Amazonian Litter-Nesting AntsBIOTROPICA, Issue 5 2009Amy L. Mertl ABSTRACT Litter-nesting ants are diverse and abundant in tropical forests, but the factors structuring their communities are poorly known. Here we present results of the first study to examine the impact of natural variation in flooding on a highly diverse (21 genera, 77 species) litter-nesting ant community in a primary Amazonian forest. Fifty-six 3 × 3 m plots experiencing strong variation in flooding and twenty-eight 3 × 3 m terra firme plots were exhaustively searched for litter-nesting ants to determine patterns of density, species richness and species composition. In each plot, flooding, litter depth, twig availability, canopy cover, plant density, percent soil nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorus were measured. Degree of flooding, measured as flood frequency and flood interval, had the strongest impact on ant density in flooded forest. Flooding caused a linear decrease in ant abundance, potentially due to a reduction of suitable nesting sites. However, its influence on species richness varied: low-disturbance habitat had species richness equal to terra firme forest after adjusting for differences in density. The composition of ant genera and species varied among flood categories; some groups known to contain specialist predators were particularly intolerant to flooding. Hypoponera STD10 appeared to be well-adapted to highly flooded habitat. Although flooding did not appear to increase species richness or abundance at the habitat scale, low-flooding habitat contained a mixture of species found in the significantly distinct ant communities of terra firme and highly flooded habitat. [source] Alternative strategies by thermophilic ants to cope with extreme heat: individual versus colony level traitsOIKOS, Issue 1 2000Xim Cerdá Cataglyphis is a fairly homogeneous ant genus which is widespread over the arid regions of the Old World. All Cataglyphis species are thermal specialists which are adapted to extreme environments where they forage at nearly lethal temperatures. This study focusses on two Cataglyphis species which differ considerably in their physical caste systems. These species have developed two alternative mechanisms facing extreme heat. In C. velox, foraging at high surface temperatures is clearly dependent on size: large C. velox workers forage at midday and are able to withstand higher temperatures than small workers. On the other hand, C. rosenhaueri has not developed great physical specialization, but the workers of this species have achieved physiological (such as low cuticular transpiration and metabolic rate), and behavioural adaptations (such as raising their abdomen to protect the vital organs contained in it from high temperatures) to tolerate thermal stress. The result is that small C. rosenhaueri workers may withstand extreme heat conditions in a similar way to large C. velox workers, and much better than small C. velox workers. The different mechanisms used by these two species to withstand extreme heat could reflect fundamental patterns of independent evolution. In some situations, selection may act to promote a relatively narrow size range of adult workers, all of them able to withstand thermal extremes, while in others it may act by producing different worker sizes with different tolerance to environmental conditions. [source] | ||||||||||