Herrera-Rangel J, Jiménez-Carmona E, Armbrecht I
Biology Department, Universidad del Valle, Calle 13 # 100-00 Ed. 320. AA 25360, Cali, Colombia.
Biology Department, Universidad del Valle, Calle 13 # 100-00 Ed. 320. AA 25360, Cali, Colombia. Agroecology Section, Agricultural Science Department, University of Goettingen, Grisebachstr. 6, 37077, Goettingen, Germany.
Environ Entomol. 2015 Oct;44(5):1287-98. doi: 10.1093/ee/nvv103. Epub 2015 Jul 12.
Hunting ants are predators of organisms belonging to different trophic levels. Their presence, abundance, and diversity may reflect the diversity of other ants and contribute to evaluate habitat conditions. Between 2003 and 2005 the restoration of seven corridors in an Andean rural landscape of Colombia was performed. The restoration took place in lands that were formerly either forestry plantations or pasturelands. To evaluate restoration progress, hunting ants were intensely sampled for 7 yr, using sifted leaf litter and mini-Winkler, and pitfall traps in 21 plots classified into five vegetation types: forests, riparian forests, two types of restored corridors, and pasturelands. The ant communities were faithful to their habitat over time, and the main differences in ant composition, abundance, and richness were due to differences among land use types. The forests and riparian forests support 45% of the species in the landscape while the restored corridors contain between 8.3-25%. The change from forest to pasturelands represents a loss of 80% of the species. Ant composition in restored corridors was significantly different than in forests but restored corridors of soil of forestry plantations retained 16.7% more species than restored corridors from pasturelands. Ubiquitous hunting ants, Hypoponera opacior (Forel) and Gnamptogenys ca andina were usually associated with pastures and dominate restored corridors. Other cryptic, small, and specialized hunting ants are not present in the restored corridors. Results suggest that the history of land use is important for the biodiversity of hunting ants but also that corridors have not yet effectively contributed toward conservation goals.
捕食性蚂蚁是不同营养级生物的捕食者。它们的存在、数量和多样性可能反映其他蚂蚁的多样性，并有助于评估栖息地条件。2003年至2005年期间，对哥伦比亚安第斯山区乡村景观中的七条廊道进行了恢复工作。恢复工作在以前是林业种植园或牧场的土地上进行。为了评估恢复进展，在7年时间里对捕食性蚂蚁进行了密集采样，使用筛过的落叶层、小型温克勒诱捕器和陷阱，在21个地块中进行，这些地块分为五种植被类型：森林、河岸森林、两种类型的恢复廊道和牧场。随着时间的推移，蚂蚁群落对其栖息地保持忠诚，蚂蚁组成、数量和丰富度的主要差异是由于土地利用类型的不同。森林和河岸森林支持了景观中45%的物种，而恢复廊道中的物种占8.3%-25%。从森林变为牧场意味着80%的物种丧失。恢复廊道中的蚂蚁组成与森林有显著差异，但林业种植园土壤的恢复廊道比牧场的恢复廊道多保留了16.7%的物种。无处不在的捕食性蚂蚁，即暗腹下庞蚁（Hypoponera opacior (Forel)）和安第斯钩猛蚁（Gnamptogenys ca andina）通常与牧场相关联，并在恢复廊道中占主导地位。其他隐秘、小型和特化的捕食性蚂蚁在恢复廊道中不存在。结果表明，土地利用历史对捕食性蚂蚁的生物多样性很重要，但也表明廊道尚未有效地促进保护目标的实现。
