Lab de Ecologia de Formigas, Depto de Ecologia e Conservação, Instituto de Ciências Naturais, Univ Federal de Lavras, Lavras, MG, 37200-900, Brazil.
Instituto de Estudos do Xingu, Univ Federal do Sul e Sudeste do Pará, São Félix do Xingu, PA, 68380-000, Brazil.
Neotrop Entomol. 2021 Jun;50(3):335-348. doi: 10.1007/s13744-021-00861-7. Epub 2021 Mar 16.
Mining is responsible for drastic ecosystem changes and rehabilitation is used to promote the return of functions after these impacts. In this scenario, we investigated the responses of ant assemblages and diaspore removal by ants to the transformations caused by mining and rehabilitation predicting that (a) the increase in plant density (a proxy for mining intensity) led to an increase in ant richness, percentage of diaspores removed, and changes in species composition that in turn are correlated with changes in environmental variables; (b) the increase in vegetation structure (a proxy for rehabilitation ages) led to an increase in ant richness, percentage of diaspores removed, and changes in species composition that in turn are correlated with changes in environmental variables. Additionally, we also verified which functional groups were primarily responsible for diaspore removal. We sampled arboreal and epigeic ants, diaspore removal by ants, and environmental variables. We found that ant richness and diaspore removal in mining intensity gradient are positively correlated to plant density. Although vegetation structure is positively correlated with ant richness, we found no changes in diaspore removal in rehabilitation gradient. Epigeic omnivore and epigeic generalist predator ants were the most responsible for diaspore removal. Then, we observed that mining decreases ant richness, altering ant assemblages and their functions, and rehabilitation with exotic plants is ineffective to promote the colonization by the main diaspore-removing ants.
采矿会导致生态系统的剧烈变化，而恢复则用于促进这些影响后的功能恢复。在这种情况下，我们调查了蚂蚁群落对采矿和恢复引起的变化的反应，以及蚂蚁对传粉的去除作用，预测（a）植物密度的增加（代表采矿强度）会导致蚂蚁丰富度、传粉去除率和物种组成的变化增加，这些变化反过来又与环境变量的变化相关；（b）植被结构的增加（代表恢复年龄）会导致蚂蚁丰富度、传粉去除率和物种组成的变化增加，这些变化反过来又与环境变量的变化相关。此外，我们还验证了哪些功能群主要负责传粉去除。我们对树栖和地面蚂蚁、蚂蚁对传粉的去除以及环境变量进行了采样。我们发现，在采矿强度梯度上，蚂蚁丰富度和传粉去除与植物密度呈正相关。虽然植被结构与蚂蚁丰富度呈正相关，但我们在恢复梯度上没有发现传粉去除的变化。地面杂食性和地面广食性捕食性蚂蚁是传粉去除的主要责任方。然后，我们观察到采矿会降低蚂蚁的丰富度，改变蚂蚁的群落及其功能，而恢复外来植物对主要传粉去除蚂蚁的定植没有效果。
