Ground-dwelling ant assemblages (Family: Formicidae) in six coconut (Cocos nucifera L. 1753) plantations in Sri Lanka
Journal Title: Journal of Insect Biodiversity - Year 2015, Vol 3, Issue 14
Abstract
The contribution of six well-established coconut plantations to the conservation of biodiversity, specifically of ants, was investigated using soil sifting, timed hand collection and honey baiting along five, 100 m transects established in each plantation. Twenty honeybaited pitfall traps were set throughout each sampling area of each plantation. Collected worker ants were preserved in 70% ethanol and sorted and identified to the furthest possible taxonomic levels under a low-power stereo-microscope. The ant species observed at the five transects in each plantation were tabulated and species richness and proportional abundance of each species at each plantation were recorded. The Shannon-Wiener Diversity index for the ant assemblage at each plantation was calculated. Air and soil temperature, soil humidity and soil pH at each locality were also measured. A diverse ant assemblage occurred at each plantation, where between 19 and 29 species in 4 or 5 subfamilies were recorded; the Shannon-Wiener diversity index values were determined. Higher proportions of formicines and myrmicines than those of other subfamilies were observed. Two or more species in higher proportions than the rest of the ants occurred in each assemblage. Also, the six plantations shared three species and five plantations shared nine species in common. The considerable diversity of ants indicated a healthy environment and provided insight into the presence of other animals in the well-established coconut plantations.
Authors and Affiliations
Ratnayake K. S. Dias, Hetti A. W. S. Peiris
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP34218
- DOI -
- Views 323
- Downloads 0
Redescription of Dicranocentrus heloisae Arlé & Mendonça, 1982 (Collembola: Entomobryidae)
Dicranocentrus heloisae Arlé & Mendonça 1982 is redescribed based on specimens collected from its type locality, “Parque Nacional da Tijuca”, Rio de Janeiro municipality, State of Rio de Janeiro. The presence of 6+6 ma...
A new species of the weevil genus Mogulones Reitter, 1916 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Ceutorhynchinae) from Northeastern Turkey
A new species Mogulones neslihanae Korotyaev, Gültekin & Colonnelli sp. nov. is described from Northeastern Turkey where it lives on Nonea caspica. The new species is very closely related to M. tristis (Korotyaev, 1981...
The fauna of Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) of eastern Turkey with zoogeographical remarks and host data
Faunistic and sistematics studies on the family Ichneumonidae (Hymenoptera) were reviwed occuring in eastern Turkey for over 20 years. In this study, 8 Acaenitinae, 16 Anomaloninae, 33 Banchinae, 26 Campopleginae, 1 Co...
Revision of the Agrilus adonis species-group (Coleoptera: Buprestidae: Agrilini) with description of sixteen new species from southeastern Asia
The newly defined Agrilus adonis species-group comprising thirty taxa from Southeast Asia is revised based on the examination of type specimens. The taxonomic concept and distribution of all known taxa is reexamined fo...
Ground-dwelling ant assemblages (Family: Formicidae) in six coconut (Cocos nucifera L. 1753) plantations in Sri Lanka
The contribution of six well-established coconut plantations to the conservation of biodiversity, specifically of ants, was investigated using soil sifting, timed hand collection and honey baiting along five, 100 m tra...