Ants associated with vulnerable trees of the hiper-arid Monte desert of Argentina.

AMATTA EMILCE; CALCATERRA LUIS; GIANNONI STELLA M

Biodiversitas

Society for Indonesian Biodiversity

Lugar: Surakarta; Año: 2018 vol. 19 p. 831 - 839

1412-033X

Deforestation and overgrazingmediated by the humans have caused a serious process of desertification in the Argentine Monte Desert, which threatsbiodiversity of this ecosystem. Forests provide important resources and refuge for animal species, such as ants. The objective of thiswork was to survey the ant fauna of dryland forests of Ischigualasto Provincial Park, a protected area located in the hyper-arid MonteDesert ecoregion in the province of San Juan, Argentina. Ant species were surveyed in summer in three types of forests (Prosopis,Ramorinoa and Bulnesia forests), using a combination of sampling methods: pitfall-traps, baiting, and hand collection. A total of 33 antspecies were collected, of which 17 are new records for the Monte Desert and Dry Chaco and 24 for the San Juan province. The speciesrichness is within the range reported for other Argentine desert and semi-desert areas. Prosopis forest was the richest with 32 species (24exclusive), followed by Ramorinoa and Bulnesia forests with 11 and 4 species, respectively. This study contributes to improve theknowledge of ant fauna in desert habitats of the world, especially those inhabiting Prosopis forests, which are the most important antdiversity hotspots within the hyper-arid desert.