Influence of season on leaf litter ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) diversity in the locality of Minko'o (Southern, Cameroon)

Abstract

Seasonality is known to influence ant activity in many tropical rain forests in the world such as South America and Africa. We surveyed ant fauna in the leaf litter in the locality of Minko'o. The work aimed to evaluate the effect of seasonal variation on the diversity and composition of litter ants. Ants were sampled from November 2015 to June 2017, using four sampling methods: visual capture, bait, pitfall trap and extraction. Species richness, Shannon diversity index and analysis of similarities were used to characterise diversity of ant communities between seasons. We collected 306 ant species, shared out between 56 genera and 11 subfamilies. Subfamilies Myrmicinae, Ponerinae, Dolichoderinae, Formicinae, Dorylinae, Cerapachyinae and Pseudomyrmecinae occurred in all the seasons. Species richness was highest in major dry season with 243 species followed by minor rainy season with 188, major rainy season with 177 species and finally minor dry season that recorded the lowest with 155 species. Kruskal-Wallis test showed that ant species richness did not differ between seasons (p > 0.05). Species diversity index indicated that diversity was the highest during minor dry season (H′ = 4.24), followed by the major dry season (H′ = 4.23), minor rainy season (H′ = 4.21) and lowest during major rainy season (H′ = 4.06). Eight most frequents ants have been recorded: Axinidris sp.1, Camponotus flavomarginatus, Monomorium guineense, Myrmicaria opaciventris, Odontomachus troglodytes, Carebara perpusilla, Paltothyreus tarsatus and Pheidole megacephala. Assessment of the seasonal effect on diversity reveals that dry season is richer and more diverse than rainy season and the season significantly influence the diversity of litter ants. Résumé La saisonnalité est connue comme étant un facteur qui influence l'activité des fourmis dans de nombreuses forêts tropicales humides du monde à l'instar de l'Amérique du sud et l'Afrique. Nous avons étudié la faune des fourmis terricoles dans la localité de Minko'o. Les travaux visaient à évaluer l'effet des variations saisonnières | 797 TCHOUDJIN eT al.

Diversity patterns of ants and termites in forest‐savanna mosaic habitats in two protected areas of Cameroon

“…For both national parks and habitat types surveyed, the ant and termite species rarefaction curves suggest a good portion of the fauna of each was sampled comparable to other related surveys (Felicitas et al, 2018; Mbenoun et al, 2021; Tadu et al, 2014; Tchoudjin et al, 2020). Near‐complete sampling of ants is challenging due to rare, cryptic, and rarely detected species (Gotelli et al, 2011).…”

“…In tropical forests, ant and termite communities are generally affected by habitat heterogeneity and resource availability (Tadu et al, 2013; Watt et al, 2002). Many ant and termite species are highly sensitive to habitat structure variation and respond with adaptative strategies to environmental changes that affect arthropods diversity (Adis & Latif, 1996; Alonso & Agosti, 2000; Felicitas et al, 2018; Tchoudjin et al, 2020).…”

“…The ecology of Cameroon's leaf‐litter, soil‐dwelling, and arboreal nesting ants and termites have been primarily studied in closed‐canopy tropical forests, upland, and littoral habitats (Dejean & Bolton, 1995; Dejean et al, 1996, 1997; Fotso et al, 2015, Mbenoun et al, 2021). Abundance and diversity surveys have been undertaken in both natural tropical forests (Deblauwe & Dekoninck, 2007; Dibog et al, 1998; Eggleton et al, 1996) and modified habitats, such as different types of land use management systems (Felicitas et al, 2018; Tadu et al, 2014; Tchoudjin et al, 2020). However, ant and termite ecology remain poorly known in transitional forest‐savanna ecosystems in Central Africa.…”

Relation between ground‐dwelling and arboreal ant diversity in three vegetation types in the humid forest zone of southern Cameroon

“…Ant diversity increases in presence of native dominant species and decreases in presence of non‐native dominant species (Arnan et al, 2018). In some habitats, tree species richness and tree densities were positively correlated to ant species richness (Ribas et al, 2003), which vary with the flooded regime in the periodically flooded habitat (Soares et al, 2013) and season (Tchoudjin et al, 2020a). So, the destruction of nesting sites was the main factor that affects species richness and diversity in many ecosystems.…”

“…Ant richness and distribution are known to be influenced by seasonal variation (Tchoudjin et al, 2020a), shade density in cocoa farm (Tadu, Djieto‐Lordon, et al, 2014a), land use type (Torchote et al, 2010), and seasonal flooding in periodically inundated habitats (Soares et al, 2013). Tree composition and density affect arboreal ant richness and assemblage models (Ribas et al, 2003).…”