A relação entre clima e a composição e diversidade de faunas locais de formigas do genero Pheidole Westwood (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) em areas florestadas

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

1991

RESUMO

The structure of local ant faunas has beem related to dlfferent aspects of the environment, like diversity of food itens and nest sltes. intenslt of competltive interactlons and the climate. This work evaluated the relationshlP between the structure of local ant fauna of the genus Pheidole and the . climatic parameters in seven subtroPlcal raln forest areas of BraZll. lhe ants were sampled with sardine baits on the ground, distributed in intervals of 10 meters. lhe baits were exposed for 90 minutes. lhe speClmens attracted to baits were distinguished in morphospecies. The frequency of each morphospecles , was determlned by thenumber of records on balts. The fauna diverslty was determined by curves obtained by the rarelaction method and b~ the alfa parameter aI the theoretical modelo logserle dlstributlon of abundance. Lhe . fauna similarity between dilferent areas was calculated by the Jaccard lndex and Horisita famlly index. lhe relationshlP between the lndex and the cllmatic parameters of each area studied was anal~sed with multiple linear regresSlon. forty three mórphospecles of Pheidole were determlned 1n 545 records. Only five morphospecies were frequent in alI areas. .rhe percentage of occupled balts way posltlvely correlated wlth the mean alr temperature and negatlvely correlated with the latitude. The local faunas of areas wlth slmllare cllmate . presented similar dlveraslty, except Jurela, lndependentl~ aI geographlcal , .10calization. The diversity was negatively correlated with precipltatlon mean, but not wlth the temperature and alr humldlty. Apparentl~, precIPltatlon can be an important factor llmiting the ant diversit~ ln the genus pheidole, probabl~ due to the lnundatlon and destructlon aI the nests, limltatlon nest sites and reduction aI loraging activity. The similariy between the areas was 10w. few spec!es were frequent 1n alI areas, 1ndicatlng a restrictive d1str1bution of l~al speCles. Lhe faunistic similarity measured by Jaccard index, was greater between areas.w1th small differences 1n mean temperature a1r and geographic distance, but not 1n precipitation. On an other hand, the Hurislta family index was negativamente correlated only with the difference 1n prec1pitat10n between areas. Apparently, the number of common species betweenthe study areas Was more influenced by the geOgraph1c distance and/or air temperature,but the relatlve frequency of the species was influenced by preClpitahon

ASSUNTO(S)

ecologia animal formiga

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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