The foraging kinetics of ground ant communities in different mexican coffee agroecosystems.

Foraging efficiency was studied by measuring the rate of tuna fish bait discovery by ants in unshaded and two types of shaded coffee systems. We also investigated the effect of weed biomass upon ant foraging efficiency. We found that the rate of discovery was faster in the coffee system with no shade than in systems with shade trees. The rate of discovery in the two types of shade systems (monospecific and polyspecific shade) was similar. Differences in the foraging rate between systems seem to be related to the composition of the ground ant community in each of the systems, and to cumulative factors such as plant diversity, microclimate and interspecific competition. No correlation was found between weed biomass and ant foraging efficiency. The results of this study support the idea of manipulating agroecosystem plant and structural diversity in order to enhance pest regulation by ants.