Diversity and distribution patterns of ants along elevational gradients

Abstract

Ants are one of the most successful groups of organisms present in almost all terrestrial habitats on the Earth. The published papers on ants with various sampling techniques were reviewed focusing on species richness along the elevational gradients to explain distribution patterns of ants and their potential drivers in the world. Pitfall trapping, hand collection, Winkler extractor and bait traps were found common sampling techniques for ant studies. Based upon literature, five broad distributional patterns were identified viz. mid-elevation peaks, decreasing, increasing, low plateaus, and constant patterns along the elevation ranging from 0 to 4800 m above sea level. The mid-elevation peak was a common pattern. However, ant species richness of Nepal follows a decreasing pattern based on the available records. Temperature was found as the major predictor of species richness patterns of ants.

Distributional Patterns of Aquatic Empididae (Diptera) along an Elevational Diversity Gradient in a Low Mountain Range: An Example from Central Europe

“…Interestingly, consideration of the elevational distribution of singletons and doubletons indicated that rare species contribute to species richness at both low and higher elevation in the Pieniny Mts. Our results for clinocerines corresponds with data received for many other insect groups studied in different mountain areas of the world [ 13 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 23 , 24 ], even if a great percentage of these studies were made in much higher mountain massifs than the Pieniny Mts. In contrast to our study, a different trend was found for some other aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate groups studied in Polish mountain massifs including Mount Babia, Tatra Mts., and Bieszczady Mts.…”

“…Among them, eleven species are known as rare including four currently recognized as endemics to this mountain massif [61,63,89]. Aquatic empidids were decidedly dominated by the subfamily Clinocerinae (almost 98% total fauna) which was represented by 24 . In total, almost 60% of all aquatic empidids collected in the study were caught in the Dunajec, the major river in the Pieniny Mts., with Wiedemannia bistigma as the most abundant species recorded at all sampling sites along this river (19,038 individuals or 46.3% of clinocerines).…”

“…Both models are well documented by studies focused on plants and vertebrates, especially birds and mammals [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Recent studies show that the second pattern seems to be more common [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. On the other hand, relatively little was published on this topic in the case of insects, even if this is the most diverse animal group.…”

Diversity and Distribution of Forest Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Nepal: Implications for Sustainable Forest Management

“…The variation in the distribution of the forest ants of Nepal with elevation is in line with other studies. The highest number of ant genera in our study was recorded below 1000 m asl, and there was a decreasing pattern with the increase in elevation (Figure 4) as reported by Subedi and Budha [64] when they extrapolated available elevation-related records of ants of Nepal from 200 m to 4550 m. A decreasing pattern is one of the most common patterns of ant species richness [64,65]. A number of studies from different parts of the world also reported a decreasing pattern of species richness with elevation, such as those from Mount Kinabalu [66], the Mediterranean and the oro-Mediterranean parts of Montenegro [67], rainforest in subtropical Queensland [68], wet forest on Costa Rica's Atlantic slope [69], Imbak Canyon [70], Hengduan Mountains [71], and eastern Himalaya [15].…”

An updated checklist of Nepalese ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

“…Many regions of Nepal are clearly under sampled, such that future exploration should reveal additional species. The insufficient collections and limited published information present challenges to determining and evaluating distribution patterns of Nepalese ants ( Subedi and Budha 2020 ). However, the checklist presented here provides a waypoint for further studies of diversity and distribution of Nepalese ants.…”