Ant communities and livestock grazing in the Great Basin, U.S.A.

Nash, Maliha S.; Whitford, Walter G.; Bradford, David F.; Franson, Susan E.; Neale, Anne C.; Heggem, Daniel T.

doi:10.1006/jare.2001.0824

Cited by 20 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…These findings agree with those reported by Nash et al (2001), who mention that the abundance of ant communities decreases as the condition of range sites changes from good to poor, and that this is directly related to the proportion of bare soil and the reduction of plant cover.…”

Section: Cubierta Del Suelosupporting

confidence: 78%

Efectos del sitio y la condición de agostadero en la densidad de hormigueros de escamoles (Liometopum apiculatum Mayr)

Lara-Juárez¹,

Castillo-Lara²,

Tristán-Patiño³

et al. 2016

Rev Cha Se Cie For y del Amb

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El efecto de la condición de agostadero en la densidad de hormigueros de la hormiga de escamoles (Liometopum apiculatum Mayr) se evaluó en tres sitios diferentes (favorable, regular y desfavorable), en un espacio dividido en dos patrones contrastantes de aprovechamiento y régimen de tenencia comunal (ejido) y privada (rancho) en Charcas, San Luis Potosí, México. La vegetación se midió utilizando el método de cuadrantes centrados en un punto, espaciados sobre transectos; en cada cuadrante se midió el individuo más próximo al punto correspondiente a cada estrato de la vegetación y se registró la distancia al hormiguero más cercano (si existía). Las especies se agruparon de acuerdo con su valor forrajero (deseables, menos deseables e indeseables) y, mediante estimaciones de densidad y biomasa volumétrica, los grupos se contrastaron con un análisis tabular y estadístico descriptivo. La superficie del suelo se evaluó con el método de líneas de intercepción en la proporción de cobertura basal viva y muerta (mantillo), suelo desnudo, rocas, caminos de hormigas y heces. La densidad más alta de los hormigueros (14·ha-1) se registró en el sitio favorable del rancho (mejor condición de agostadero). Con base en la información registrada se encontraron diferencias en la densidad de hormigueros entre sitios de agostaderos contiguos, lo cual a su vez es alterado severamente por la condición de los mismos.

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Section: Cubierta Del Suelosupporting

confidence: 78%

Efectos del sitio y la condición de agostadero en la densidad de hormigueros de escamoles (Liometopum apiculatum Mayr)

Lara-Juárez¹,

Castillo-Lara²,

Tristán-Patiño³

et al. 2016

Rev Cha Se Cie For y del Amb

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show abstract

“…Rangeland ant communities are known to be sensitive to grazing (Nash et al 2001(Nash et al , 2004Boulton et al 2005), and in this study they have been shown to be so in the most arid Australian rangelands. Importantly, differences in ant community metrics found along the grazing gradient conformed to the four global patterns described by Hoffmann (2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Patterns related to grazing pressure were finally embedded within the two prior habitat-based patterns. Grazing impacts playing a secondary role to environmental variation predominates in studies that sample multiple habitats/soil types/vegetation types (Bestelmeyer & Wiens 1996Nash et al 1998Nash et al , 2001Whitford et al 1999;Hoffmann 2000;Boulton et al 2005), and naturally, the distinction between habitat and grazing effects become more pronounced as the differences between habitats increase. That grazing effects are secondary to those of habitat should be of no surprise for an additional reason, because the effects of grazing on ants are not typically direct as grazing does not remove ant biomass -mammalian herbivores do not eat ants.…”

Section: Pattern 1: Soil and Vegetation Type Are Primary Determinantsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Using ants to manage sustainable grazing: Dynamics of ant faunas along sheep grazing gradients conform to four global patterns

Hoffmann¹,

James

2010

Austral Ecology

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Ants are considered an important faunal group for the functioning of arid rangelands, they have a long history of use for environmental monitoring, and exhibit four global patterns in grazing lands: (i) soil and vegetation type are primary determinants of ant community composition, and have a far greater effect on ant community composition than grazing; (ii) grazing induces species compositional change, but does not necessarily affect species richness or abundance; (iii) a species response to grazing is not necessarily consistent across habitats; and (iv) approximately one-quarter to one-half of species that are common enough for statistical analysis have significant responses to grazing. Here we report the patterns of arid zone ant faunas as they exist after several decades of sheep grazing in southern Australia, and examine the extent to which they conform to the four global patterns. We measured ant faunas along grazing gradients (varying distance to water) in seven paddocks containing two soil and two vegetation types on five pastoral properties.Total site abundance and richness of ants did not differ significantly with distance from water, but the abundance of 10 (34%) of the 29 most common species did differ; three were increasers, three were decreasers, and four had mixed responses dependent on soil/vegetation type. Rare species showed no trend with grazing intensity. The ant fauna of the more structurally complex vegetation types appeared to be the most vulnerable to grazing effects. Multivariate analysis showed soil type was the primary factor influencing ant faunal composition, followed by vegetation structure; however, grazing treatment effects were present. This study fully supports the recently identified global patterns of ant responses to grazing. It also shows that sampling regional ant faunas using widely dispersed traps can detect ant faunal patterns comparable to studies that use smaller-scale grids of traps.

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“…, however, few related studies have been conducted in these regions (Nash et al, 2001;Dostál et al, 2005). Most recent studies suggest that soil composition in a mound differs from that in reference soils (Blomqvist et al, 2000).…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 92%

Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Nests and Influence of Ant ( Formica cunicularia Lat.) Activity on Soil Property and Seed Bank after Revegetation in the Tengger Desert

Chen

2012

Arid Land Research and Management

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In Shapotou, northeast of the Tengger Desert in China, Formica cunicularia Lat. proliferated after mobile sand dune stabilization by artificial revegetation. In the present paper, the anthill properties of F. cunicularia after sand stabilization were systematically investigated along a chronosequence. The soil properties and soil seed banks in the anthill and adjacent soils without anthills were also examined. The results showed that the revegetation age, landform, and their interactions significantly affected the anthill density, anthill coverage, and soil turnover capacity of F. cunicularia. The longer the dunes were stabilized, the more ant nests proliferated in the dunes. More nests were located in the hollow and windward slopes than in the dune top and leeward slopes. Soil organic matter, total and available N, P, and K, electrical conductivity, as well as soil water content were all significantly higher in the nests than in the adjacent soils without anthills. The soil seed bank in the anthill was much greater than in the adjacent soil for both moss-and algal-crusted soils. The current research suggested that the occurrence of F. cunicularia after mobile sand dune stabilization greatly influenced both soil properties and soil seed bank.

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Ant communities and livestock grazing in the Great Basin, U.S.A.

Cited by 20 publications

References 46 publications

Efectos del sitio y la condición de agostadero en la densidad de hormigueros de escamoles (Liometopum apiculatum Mayr)

Efectos del sitio y la condición de agostadero en la densidad de hormigueros de escamoles (Liometopum apiculatum Mayr)

Using ants to manage sustainable grazing: Dynamics of ant faunas along sheep grazing gradients conform to four global patterns

Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Nests and Influence of Ant ( Formica cunicularia Lat.) Activity on Soil Property and Seed Bank after Revegetation in the Tengger Desert

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