IADIZA   20886
INSTITUTO ARGENTINO DE INVESTIGACIONES DE LAS ZONAS ARIDAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Ant community patterns in highly fragmented Chaco forests of central Argentina
Autor/es:
LEONARDO GALETTO; LEONARDO GALETTO; MARIANA PEREYRA; MARIANA PEREYRA; RODRIGO POL; RODRIGO POL
Revista:
AUSTRAL ECOLOGY
Editorial:
WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC
Referencias:
Lugar: Londres; Año: 2019 vol. 44 p. 668 - 679
ISSN:
1442-9985
Resumen:
The Chaco is the largest dry forest biome in South America and one of the regions most threatened by agricultural intensification. As a consequence, in several areas Chaco forests persist as forest remnants of different size embedded in an agricultural matrix. Ants are social insects that have key roles in ecosystem functioning, and the effects of this ongoing land use change process on ant communities are unknown for this region. In the present study we assessed the consequences of land use replacement by monocultures and forest fragmentation on ant communities. Particularly, we assessed whether patch size, patch isolation and edge effect affect the richness and species composition of ground-dwelling ants in fragmented landscapes of Chaco forests. We collected ants by a combination of hand collected and pitfall traps in 17 forest fragments and the surrounding matrix from two sites in Córdoba, Argentina. The results indicate that patch size and patch isolation had no effect on ant richness, but patch isolation and, in less extent, patch size altered ant species composition. Although, edge did not have effects on ant community, the crop matrix had a negative effect on ant community, reducing richness and altering species composition. These results indicate that monoculture matrices severely affect ant communities in the Chaco forests, but the effects of other indicators of habitat fragmentation process (patch size and edge effect) are more subtle and less relevant. In the present context of land use change, even the small fragments could have an important value for the conservation of ant diversity.