scholarly journals Effects of Urbanization on the Diversity, Abundance, and Composition of Ant Assemblages in an Arid City

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 836-846 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier G Miguelena ◽  
Paul B Baker
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Functional Group ◽  
Landscape Heterogeneity ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Colony Growth ◽  
Limiting Factor ◽  
Habitat Types ◽  
Ant Assemblages ◽  
Ant Diversity

AbstractCities within arid regions make up a significant but understudied subset of the urban ecosystems of the world. To assess the effects of urbanization, fragmentation, and land-use change in an arid city, we sampled the ant assemblages in three habitat types in Tucson, Arizona: irrigated neighborhood parks, urban desert remnants, and preserved desert. We analyzed the abundance, species richness, evenness, as well as the species and functional group composition of ant assemblages. We found no significant differences in species richness or evenness. However, irrigated parks had significantly greater ant abundances. Although some exotic species were present in the urban habitats, they did not have significant effects on ant diversity. Ant assemblages from all three habitat types were distinct from each other in their composition. Irrigated parks included a significantly higher proportion of species typically found in cooler and wetter climates. The differences in abundance and species composition between irrigated parks and the other habitats are likely the effect of irrigation removing water as a limiting factor for colony growth and increasing resource availability, as well as producing a localized cooling effect. Our results show that arid urban ecosystems may include considerable biodiversity, in part thanks to increased landscape heterogeneity resulting from the irrigation of green areas.

scholarly journals Urban habitat complexity affects species richness but not environmental filtering of morphologically-diverse ants

PeerJ ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. e1356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Ossola ◽  
Michael A. Nash ◽  
Fiona J. Christie ◽  
Amy K. Hahs ◽  
Stephen J. Livesley
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Habitat Complexity ◽  
Morphological Traits ◽  
Environmental Filtering ◽  
Urban Ecosystems ◽  
Low Complexity ◽  
Urban Habitat ◽  
High Complexity ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Ant Assemblages

Habitat complexity is a major determinant of structure and diversity of ant assemblages. Following the size-grain hypothesis, smaller ant species are likely to be advantaged in more complex habitats compared to larger species. Habitat complexity can act as an environmental filter based on species size and morphological traits, therefore affecting the overall structure and diversity of ant assemblages. In natural and semi-natural ecosystems, habitat complexity is principally regulated by ecological successions or disturbance such as fire and grazing. Urban ecosystems provide an opportunity to test relationships between habitat, ant assemblage structure and ant traits using novel combinations of habitat complexity generated and sustained by human management. We sampled ant assemblages in low-complexity and high-complexity parks, and high-complexity woodland remnants, hypothesizing that (i) ant abundance and species richness would be higher in high-complexity urban habitats, (ii) ant assemblages would differ between low- and high-complexity habitats and (iii) ants living in high-complexity habitats would be smaller than those living in low-complexity habitats. Contrary to our hypothesis, ant species richness was higher in low-complexity habitats compared to high-complexity habitats. Overall, ant assemblages were significantly different among the habitat complexity types investigated, although ant size and morphology remained the same. Habitat complexity appears to affect the structure of ant assemblages in urban ecosystems as previously observed in natural and semi-natural ecosystems. However, the habitat complexity filter does not seem to be linked to ant morphological traits related to body size.

Contrasting rainforest and savanna ant faunas in monsoonal northern Australia: a rainforest patch in a tropical savanna landscape

2007 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan N. Andersen ◽  
Laura T. van Ingen ◽  
Ricardo I. Campos
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Functional Group ◽  
Group Composition ◽  
Active Species ◽  
Pitfall Traps ◽  
Tropical Savanna ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Neotropical Savanna ◽  
Ant Diversity

Rainforest in the tropical savanna landscapes of monsoonal Australia is of high biogeographic interest because it occurs as numerous small and isolated patches, and supports a fauna that contrasts markedly with that of the surrounding savanna. The overall ant fauna of monsoonal rainforest is known reasonably well, but with just one exception (Holmes Jungle in Darwin) the faunas of individual rainforest patches have been only superficially studied. This paper comprehensively documents an ant fauna of a spring-fed rainforest patch at the Territory Wildlife Park (TWP) near Darwin, contrasts it with that of surrounding savanna, and compares it with the Holmes Jungle fauna. Ants were sampled at 21 locations within the TWP rainforest, using Winkler sacs for litter-dwelling species (160 samples), standard pitfall traps for ground-active species (75 traps), and baited pitfall traps taped to trees for arboreal species (75 traps). In total, 43 species were collected, with 35 recorded in leaf litter, 24 in ground pitfall traps and 12 in arboreal pitfall traps. Species of Paratrechina and Pheidole collectively comprised 75% of all individuals recorded. Species richness was far higher in the surrounding savanna, and the rainforest and savanna faunas had markedly different species and functional group composition. The rainforest fauna at TWP was remarkably similar to that at Holmes Jungle. The rainforest/savanna contrast in ant diversity across northern Australia is the reverse of that occurring in Neotropical savanna landscapes.

scholarly journals Ecological and microbiological diversity of chigger mites, including vectors of scrub typhus, on small mammals across stratified habitats in Thailand

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kittipong Chaisiri ◽  
A. Christina Gill ◽  
Alexandr A. Stekolnikov ◽  
Soawapak Hinjoy ◽  
John W. McGarry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Scrub Typhus ◽  
Bacterial Pathogen ◽  
Febrile Illness ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Habitat Types ◽  
Widespread Species ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
Β Diversity ◽  
Α Diversity

AbstractScrub typhus, caused by a bacterial pathogen (Orientia spp.), is a potentially life-threatening febrile illness widely distributed in the Asia-Pacific region and is emerging elsewhere. The infection is transmitted by the larval stage of trombiculid mites (“chiggers”) that often exhibit low host specificity. Here, we present an analysis of chigger ecology for 38 species sampled from 11 provinces of Thailand and microbiomes for eight widespread species. In total, >16 000 individual chiggers were collected from 1 574 small mammal specimens belonging to 18 species across four horizontally-stratified habitat types. Chigger species richness was positively associated with higher latitudes, dry seasonal conditions, and host maturity; but negatively associated with increased human land use. Human scrub typhus incidence was found to be positively correlated with chigger species richness. The bacterial microbiome of chiggers was highly diverse, with Sphingobium, Mycobacterium, Neisseriaceae and various Bacillales representing the most abundant taxa. Only Leptotrombidium deliense was found to be infected with Orientia. β-diversity, but not α-diversity, was significantly different between chigger species and geographic regions, although not between habitat types. This first field survey of the chigger microbiome provides a framework for future studies on interactions between pathogens and other symbionts in these understudied vectors.

scholarly journals Ecological and microbiological diversity of chigger mites, including vectors of scrub typhus, on small mammals across stratified habitats in Thailand

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kittipong Chaisiri ◽  
A. Christina Gill ◽  
Alexandr A. Stekolnikov ◽  
Soawapak Hinjoy ◽  
John W. McGarry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Scrub Typhus ◽  
Bacterial Pathogen ◽  
Febrile Illness ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Habitat Types ◽  
Widespread Species ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
Β Diversity ◽  
Α Diversity

Abstract Background Scrub typhus, caused by a bacterial pathogen (Orientia spp.), is a potentially life-threatening febrile illness widely distributed in the Asia-Pacific region and is emerging elsewhere. The infection is transmitted by the larval stage of trombiculid mites (“chiggers”) that often exhibit low host specificity. Here, we present an analysis of chigger ecology for 38 species sampled from 11 provinces of Thailand and microbiomes for eight widespread species. Results In total, > 16,000 individual chiggers were collected from 1574 small mammal specimens belonging to 18 species across four horizontally-stratified habitat types. Chigger species richness was positively associated with higher latitudes, dry seasonal conditions, and host maturity; but negatively associated with increased human land use. Human scrub typhus incidence was found to be positively correlated with chigger species richness. The bacterial microbiome of chiggers was highly diverse, with Sphingobium, Mycobacterium, Neisseriaceae and various Bacillales representing the most abundant taxa. Only Leptotrombidium deliense was found to be infected with Orientia and another potential pathogen, Borrelia spp., was frequently detected in pools of this species. β-diversity, but not α-diversity, was significantly different between chigger species and geographic regions, although not between habitat types. Conclusion Our study identified several key environmental and host-derived correlates of chigger species richness across Thailand, which in turn impacted on human scrub typhus incidence. Moreover, this first extensive field survey of the chigger microbiome revealed species- and province-level variation in microbial β-diversity across the country, providing a framework for future studies on interactions between pathogens and other symbionts in these understudied vectors.

scholarly journals First standardized inventory of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the natural grasslands of Paraná: New records for Southern Brazil

2018 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weslly Franco ◽  
Rodrigo Machado Feitosa
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
New Records ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Pitfall Traps ◽  
Southern Brazil ◽  
Conservation Units ◽  
Natural Grasslands ◽  
Taxonomic Novelties ◽  
First Time ◽  
Ant Diversity

Despite the large number of studies investigating ant diversity in Brazilian biomes, no ant-related studies have been carried out in Campos Gerais, a grassland physiognomy in Paraná state. The present study is the first inventory of the ant fauna in one of the few conservation units protecting the Campos Gerais landscape, the Guartelá State Park (PEG). Sixty samples were collected from different habitats within PEG using pitfall traps. Qualitative samples of leaf litter were collected from forest fragments and submitted to Winkler extractors. In addition, manual qualitative sampling was carried out in the various physiognomies within the PEG. A total of 163 species was collected and sorted into 43 genera and nine subfamilies. Five genera and 28 species were recorded for the first time in the state of Paraná. Out of these, 17 species were also recorded for the first time in the Southern Region of Brazil and two were recorded for the first time to the country. The significant species richness in the PEG and the high number of new records is a strong sign of this ecosystem’s potential to reveal taxonomic novelties. These results suggest that PEG, and the Campos Gerais as a whole, should be the target of greater conservation efforts to preserve native remnants.

Latitudinal patterns in European ant assemblages: variation in species richness and body size

Oecologia ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Hall Cushman ◽  
John H. Lawton ◽  
Bryan F. J. Manly
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Ant Assemblages ◽  
Latitudinal Patterns

Habitat-specific distributions of some fishes in a tropical estuary

1996 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 827 ◽  
Author(s):  
MJ Sheaves
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Abundant Species ◽  
Epinephelus Coioides ◽  
Tropical Estuary ◽  
Habitat Types ◽  
Number Of Species ◽  
Fish Traps ◽  
Tropical Australia ◽  
Sampling Trip ◽  
Probability Of Capture

The species richness of fishes and the distributions of six fish species were compared among four habitat types, snaggy banks, clear banks, mud banks and mid channels, in an estuary in tropical Australia. Both day and night samples were collected in fish traps, on four occasions, three months apart. On each sampling trip the highest number of species was trapped from snaggy habitats, intermediate numbers from clear banks or mud banks, and the fewest species from mid channels. Although more species occurred in night than in day samples, the pattern of difference among habitats was consistent. The probability of capture of the six most abundant species, Acanthopagrus australis, Acanthopagrus berda, Arothron manilensis, Arius argyropleuron, Epinephelus coioides and Lutjanus russelli, was compared among habitat types and between day and night samples. Overall, snag habitats tended to be associated with high probabilities of capture of a number of species, particularly A. berda and L. russelli. At night, mid channels were characterized by high numbers of A. argyropleuron. Clear and mud banks, and day samples from mid channels were associated with low numbers of most species.

Effect of treefall gaps on the patchiness and species richness of Neotropical ant assemblages

Oecologia ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 116 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 191-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald H. Feener Jr. ◽  
Eugene W. Schupp
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Ant Assemblages ◽  
Treefall Gaps

scholarly journals Diversity of Hoverfly (Diptera: Syrphidae) Communities in Different Habitat Types in Zanjan Province, Iran

ISRN Zoology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masumeh Naderloo ◽  
Shahrokh Pashaei Rad
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Species Diversity ◽  
Rice Field ◽  
Diversity Analysis ◽  
Species Evenness ◽  
Habitat Types

The diversity of hoverfly communities was studied in four different habitat types (river side, woodland, fruit garden, and rice field) in the years of 2008 and 2009. Adult hoverflies were collected from different habitants in Zanjan province. A total of 31 species with 750 individuals of hoverflies were collected, among which Sphaerophoria scripta (Linnaeus), Eristalis arbustorum (Linnaeus) and Eristalis tenax (Linnaeus) were found to be the most abundant. Records from these four sites were used in the diversity analysis. The results indicated that river side and rice field showed the highest and lowest degree of species richness and species diversity. Also, river side and rice field showed the highest and lowest species evenness, respectively.

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