Can anthropic fires affect epigaeic and hypogaeic Cerrado ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) communities in the same way?

Abstract

Abstract:Fire occurrences are a common perturbation in Cerrado ecosystems, and may differently impact the local biodiversity. Arthropods are one of the taxa affected by fires, and among them, ants are known as good bioindicators. We aimed to evaluate the effect of anthropic fires on epigaeic and hypogaeic ant communities (species richness and composition) in Cerrado areas with different post-fire event recovery periods. We conducted the study in four Cerrado areas during two weeks of 2012 dry season: one unburned and three at different post-fire times (one month, one and two years). We sampled ants with pitfall traps in epigaeic and hypogaeic microhabitats. We collected 71 ant morpho-species from 25 genera. In the epigaeic microhabitat we sampled 56 morpho-species and 42 in the hypogaeic microhabitat. The area with the shortest recovery time presented lower epigaeic ant species richness (4.3 ± 2.00) in comparison to the other areas (8.1 ± 2.68 species on one year area; 10.3 ± 2.66 species on two years area; 10.4 ± 2.31 species on control area), but recovery time did not affect hypogaeic ant species richness. Regarding ant species composition, fire did not directly affect hypogaeic ant species, which remained the same even one month after fire event. However, two years were not enough to reestablish ant species composition in both microhabitats in relation to our control group samples. Our study is the first to assess anthropic fire effects upon epigaeic and hypogaeic ants communities; highlighting the importance of evaluating different microhabitats, to more accurately detect the effects of anthropic disturbances in biological communities. We concluded that ant communities are just partially affected by fire occurrences, and epigaeic assemblages are the most affected ones in comparison to hypogaeic ants. Furthermore the study provides knowledge to aid in the creation of vegetation management programs that allow Cerrado conservation. Rev. Biol. Trop. 64 (1): 95-104. Epub 2016 March 01.Key words: anthropic burning, brazilian savannah, post-fire recovery, conservation, bioindicators.The Brazillian Savanna (Cerrado) is a biodiversity hotspot presenting many endemic species (Myers, Mittermeier, Mittermeier, Fonseca, & Kent, 2000). Its vegetation can be characterized by sparse trees and continuous grassy fields and is influenced by seasonal rainy periods and various disturbances, with fire figuring as the major one (Huntley & Walker, 1982). Natural fires are common in the Savannas, chiefly caused by lightning reaching small patches in the rainy season (Ramos-Neto & Pivello, 2000), and have great importance in community dynamics maintenance in this biome (Townsend, Begon, & Harper, 2010). Fire can be considered one of the factors that allow the balance between tree and grass density, maintaining the main features of savanna vegetation (Higgins, Bond, & Trollope, 2000).Biological communities of savannas are widely adapted to fire action, having great resistance and resilience to this disturbance. This fact can be attrib...

The effect of anthropic fires on ant assemblage in the Cerrado of Southeastern Brazil

“…In the same way, this result corroborates those found in previous studies, in which were observed ants' rapid recovery after fire disturbances (RODRIGO; RETANA, 2006;PARR;ANDERSEN, 2008;CANEDO-JÚNIOR et al, 2016). The rapid recovery of these insects may be related to the fact that fire has been present for thousands of years in the Savannas (SALGADO-LABOURIAU et al, 1997) and, for this reason, some animals, such as ant species, are adapted to fire regime.…”

“…Fire events in the Savanna ecosystem can promote a high biodiversity of ants by changing the structure of vegetation (MARAVALHAS; VASCONCELOS, 2014). The vegetation has been proved to have an important role in the recovery and restoration of communities, especially herbaceous cover and their biomass (ARAÚJO; RIBEIRO, 2005;FRIZZO et al, 2012;CANEDO-JÚNIOR et al, 2016). After a fire, some species can be resilient and resistant and their diversity is quickly restored (COSTA et al, 2010), and others can be susceptive, and be replaced by others, which is called turnover of species (FAGUNDES et al, 2018).…”

“…This may happen because different groups of ants may show different responses to fire, depending, for instance, if their nest is vulnerable or not to the direct effect of fire (HOFFMANN, 2013;FRIZZO et al, 2012;MARAVALHAS;VASCONCELOS, 2014). The recovery of the ant community was previously related to the post-fire time, in which it was shown that the longer after the fire event, the greater the similarity with the unburned area (CANEDO-JÚNIOR et al, 2016). Thus, considering the growing environmental problems due to habitat loss in Brazilian savannas (Cerrado biome), and the necessity to understand the role of environmental structure and the response of ants at different post-fire times, this work was developed to evaluate the richness and composition of ant communities in a control area and two post-fire areas (two and four months after fire) in an area of Cerrado.…”

“…Invertebrates are widely used as bioindicators (SIDDIG et al, 2016) and, in particular, ants have been used for the same purpose when it comes to impacts caused by fires (SANTOS et al, 2008;CANEDO-JÚNIOR et al, 2016;PAOLUCCI et al, 2017;SEMENOV;RAN'KOVA, 2018;TIBCHERANI et al, 2018). Ants are considered…”

Post-fire recovery of arthropod assemblage in an area of Brazilian savanna

“…climate). That makes sense once that, despite the rapid recolonization of a burned area together with the plants' regrowth (drieSSen & kirkPatrick 2017), the reestablishment of arthropod populations can be tardy and take more than two years (anjOS et al 2015(anjOS et al , 2016canedO-júniOr et al 2016).…”