Influence of environmental heterogeneity on mirmecofauna in different land uses in the municipality of Bom Despacho, Minas Gerais state

ABSTRACT

Ant communities can be evaluated in areas with different land uses in order to know the factors that affect species richness, diversity and composition. This study aimed to evaluate the myrmecofauna in cultivated areas and in a remnant of native forest. The myrmecofauna was collected in an agroforestry, an area cultivated with fruit trees (fruit growing), in a pasture and in the Legal Reserve of the Experimental Farm of the Una University Center, municipality of Bom Despacho, State of Minas Gerais. For the sampling of ants, 15 soil traps and the same number of tree traps were used in each area, all containing sardine and honey baits. A total of 45 ant species were collected, belonging to 16 genera. The greatest species richness occurred in the Legal Reserve (29), followed by agroforestry (23), pasture (19) and fruit growing (17). The species accumulation curves indicated that the total species richness was significantly higher in the Legal Reserve than in the other areas. The average species richness of ants collected on the soil was significantly higher in the Legal Reserve and agroforestry area (ANCOVA; F = 5.069; p < 0.01), but litter leaf did not significantly influence species richness (ANCOVA; F = 1.086; p = 0.30). There was no significant difference in the mean richness of ants on trees in the different areas evaluated (ANCOVA; F = 2.014; p = 0.12), not being influenced by height (ANCOVA; F = 0.626; p = 0.43) or trunk circumference (ANCOVA; F = 0.776; p = 0.38) of the trees. The Legal Reserve had the highest Shannon Diversity Index (2,999), followed by agroforestry (2,736), pasture (2,698) and fruit growing (2,349). There was an influence of the land use on the composition of ant species collected on soil and plants. The results show that environmental attributes linked to the heterogeneity of the environment, such as the number of plant species, provided differences in the richness, diversity and composition of ant fauna. The increased structural complexity of the environment can provide the presence of greater ant species richness and diversity.

Keywords
Agroecosystems; Biodiversity; Ecological functions