Myrmecofauna Fruit Trees Infected by Loranthaceae Orchards Lokomo (East Cameroon)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the myrmecofauna fruit trees infected by Loranthaceae orchards Lokomo (East Cameroon). The collection and identification of myrmecofauna was made on an area of 5 ha. The work was conducted from October to December 2010. The orchards consist of a mixture of exotic ornemental trees, fruit trees for consumption and forest species deliberately left in place. Woody species hosts concerned were Albizia adianthifolia, Calliandra susinamensis, Citrus maxima, Entandrophragma cylindricum, Psidium guajava, Macaranga hurifolia, Phyllanthus discoides and Terminalia mantaly. A total of seven ant species grouped in six genera and two subfamilies (Formicinae and Myrmicinae) were identified. In Formicinae, two genera have been identified, Camponotus and Oecophylla. Myrmicinae in turn had three genera, Atopomyrmex, Crematogaster and Tetramorium. The activity of myrmecophilous revealed that ants forage on flowers, fruits and suckers of T. ogowensis and T. preussii. The suckers dried out and degenerated causing the death of the tufts.

Floristic diversity of Loranthaceae Family and their potential host species in Sudano-sahelian zone of Cameroon: case of Diamare plain in Far-North Region

“…EQ = H'/log2N, this index varies from 0 to 1. To describe the ecological importance of host families within each itinerary as well as for the total flora, the family importance value index (FIV) (Mori et al, 1983), was also calculated: FIV = family relative diversity + relative density + relative dominance Family relative diversity = (number of species in a family/total number of species) × 100 Relative density = (number of trees of the species or family/total number of trees) × 100 Relative dominance = (basal area of a species/basal area of all the species) x 100 The parasitic species were identified on the field and confirmed by other authors' surveys (Dibong et al, 2008;Soro et al, 2010;Dibong et al, 2012;Azo'o et al, 2013;Koffi et al, 2014).…”

“…These parasitic species which have not been sufficiently studied and vulgarized by research foundations constitute a real threat to trees in home gardens (Dibong et al, 2008). In East Cameroon, Theobroma cacao, Coffea robusta, Dacryodes edulis plantations and coastal gardens along roads created by forest exploitation are major Loranthaceae targets (Dibong et al, 2012;Azo'o et al, 2013).…”

Ecology of Myrmecofauna (Genus: Crematogaster) Associated to Helixanthera mannii (Oliv.) Danser (Loranthaceae) to Cocoa Trees in Oboa: Center Region of Cameroon, Africa

“…All this could explain the low rate of parasitism encountered in this orchard, i.e., 20.43%. This result differs from those obtained by Mony et al (2009), Dibong et al (2008Dibong et al ( , 2009Dibong et al ( , 2010Dibong et al ( , 2011Dibong et al ( , 2012, Noutcheu et al (2013), Ladoh (2011), Ladoh et al (2013 and Massako (2011) who respectively obtained a slightly higher rate of parasitism in the orchards located in Douala. The particularity of this orchard is that the parasitism is specific to Helixanthera mannii.…”

“…The Myrmicinae was mainly represented by dominant species of the genus Crematogaster. These ants have already been reported on Loranthaceae (Murase et al, 2002, Mony et al, 2009, Dibong et al, 2012. The latter are characterized by very populous societies and intra-and inter-specific aggressiveness, which limits the access of other ants to colonized species (Noutcheu et al, 2013).…”

Ants Associated to Loranthaceae in an Agroecosystem Based on Cocoa Trees in Nkolbisson (Yaounde: Cameroon)

“…But in some conditions, they can become true scourges. Their repartition and the lost caused vary (Mony et al, 2009;Dibong et al, 2012).…”