Sociobiology 62(2): 228-245 (June, 2015) DOI: 10.13102/Sociobiology.V62i2.228-245
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Portal de Periódicos Eletrônicos da Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (UEFS) Sociobiology 62(2): 228-245 (June, 2015) DOI: 10.13102/sociobiology.v62i2.228-245 Sociobiology An international journal on social insects RESEARCH ARTICLE - ANTS Ant fauna in megadiverse mountains: a checklist for the rocky grasslands FV Costa, R Mello, Lana TC, FS Neves Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil Article History Abstract The rocky grasslands, environments locally known as campo rupestre, occur mainly along Edited by the Espinhaço Mountains and are considered local centers of biodiversity and endemism John Lattke, Universidad Nacional de Loja, Ecuador in Brazil. However, knowledge of ant species richness (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in this Received 01 December 2014 kind of environment is still poor. Aiming at filling this gap, we compiled information from Initial acceptance 18 January 2015 empirical studies and literature records. We found a total of 288 species of 53 genera and Final acceptance 01 April 2015 eight subfamilies recorded in rocky grasslands. Myrmicinae and Formicinae were the most representative subfamilies, with 53% and 18% of the total species richness, respectively. Keywords Pheidole Camponotus Ant checklist, altitudinal gradient, The genera with the largest number of species were (41) and (40). campo rupestre, Espinhaço Mountains. This large number of ant species recorded for the rocky grasslands surpasses those found in other studies conducted in several different places. Ant species richness decreased Corresponding author with altitude; most species occur below 800 m a.s.l. (171), and only a few species occur Fernanda Vieira da Costa above1600 m a.s.l. (17). Some genera occur only at a specific altitude (e.g., Azteca and Federal University of Minas Gerais Dolichoderus at 800/900 m a.s.l.; Leptogenys and Labidus at 1400 m a.s.l.), which points Institute for Biological Sciences Insect Ecology Lab (E3- 257) out to the potential use of ants as biological indicators. Our results suggest that the rocky Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627 grasslands favor high ant diversity. The patterns of ant richness associated with the altitudinal 31270-901, Belo Horizonte-MG, Brazil gradient reinforce the idea of considering the rocky grasslands as priority areas for biological E-Mail: [email protected] conservation. Moreover, we observed a lack of records on the occurrence of most ant species considered in the present study (93%), which shows that Brazilian myrmecologists need to invest more in taxonomy, management, and data sharing. Introduction 2011). This complex geographic mosaic associated with a long evolutionary time turned this environment into a local The rocky grasslands, locally known as campo rupestre, biodiversity center, with high endemism (approximately one- are an ecosystem characterized by a montane, fire-prone third of its plant species are endemic) and several endangered vegetation mosaic, with rocky outcrops on quartzite, sandstone, species (Giulietti & Pirani 1997; Rapini et al., 2008). or ironstone soils. They are inserted in a matrix of sandy and Tropical grasslands have been under severe threat and stony grasslands, and other vegetation types, such as Cerrado are consistently overlooked by conservation policies (Parr et al., (Brazilian savanna), Atlantic Forest, and Caatinga (Giulietti & 2014). These ecosystems are subjected to several human pressures, Pirani, 1997; Alves et al., 2014; Fernandes et al., 2014). Rocky such as mining, livestock raising, agriculture, road construction, grasslands occur mainly along the Espinhaço Mountains, a tourism, and frequent fires (Barbosa et al., 2010; Fernandes et al., vast mountain range that has its southern limit in the state 2014). In addition to their large number of endangered species and of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil, encompass important human threats, montane ecosystems are also subjected to global smaller ranges, such as Serra do Caraça and Serra do Cipó, changes (IPCC, 2013). Climatic models predict a catastrophic and ends in Chapada Diamantina, state of Bahia, northeastern future in which, by the end of this century, the rocky grasslands Brazil (Giulietti & Pirani, 1997). Rocky grasslands are also may lose up to 95% of their current area (Fernandes et al., found in the mountains of central (e.g., Serra da Canastra) 2014). In this scenario, the development of effective conservation and southeastern Brazil (e.g., Serra da Mantiqueira), whose strategies is crucial. Fauna and flora inventories are of fundamental geology and flora resemble those of the Espinhaço Mountains importance, as describing the biodiversity of rocky grasslands is (Giulietti & Pirani, 1997; Rapini et al., 2008; Vasconcelos, the first step towards their conservation (Pearson, 1994). Open access journal: http://periodicos.uefs.br/ojs/index.php/sociobiology ISSN: 0361-6525 Sociobiology 62(2): 228-245 (June, 2015) 229 Despite the information on the flora and fauna of rocky to fill this gap of knowledge and support invertebrate conservation grasslands (Giulietti et al., 1987; Lessa et al., 2008; Rapini et al., in the rocky grasslands, we need a more thorough biodiversity 2008; Rodrigues et al., 2011), sampling in those environments has survey. In the present study, we compiled a checklist of ant species been heterogeneous and large areas remain unexplored (Madeira and their occurrence from original data and published information. et al., 2008). In addition, most of the literature on the biodiversity of rocky grasslands focus on plants and vertebrates (Silveira et al., Material and Methods unpublished data). Therefore other groups, such as invertebrates, remain unknown. Some of the challenges to invertebrate conservation Data sampling and database are a scarce and underfunded basic research, and the overlooking of invertebrates in most conservation policies (Cardoso et al., 2011). We searched for studies carried out in areas of rocky Conversely, invertebrates dominate most terrestrial grasslands that informed the geographic coordinates of their environments and deliver several ecosystem services (Cardoso sampling sites and identified ants to the species. We compiled et al., 2011). Among invertebrates, ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) records from a total of eight datasets, most of which original and represent one of the most important and abundant terrestrial collected in Serra do Cipó (Lana, 2015). Seven other datasets were groups (Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990). Well known for their found through an online survey in the Web of Knowledge, other functional roles, ants have been used as bioindicators due to their academic search engines such as Google Scholar, and Brazilian sensitivity to environmental and climate changes (Lach et al., 2010). academic libraries. Among those sources is one unpublished Previous studies reported changes in ant diversity along altitudinal dataset from Serra do Cipó (hereafter “Cipó”) (Soares, 2003) and gradients (Fisher, 1996; Bharti & Sharma, 2013; Bishop et al., 2014). six published datasets from Cipó (n = 1), Serra do Rola Moça Altitudinal gradients are excellent to model species distribution, due State Park (hereafter “Rola Moça”) (n = 1), Itacolomi State Park to differences in abiotic conditions. However, as most literature (hereafter “Itacolomi”) (n = 3), and Ibitipoca State Park (hereafter records came from temperate mountains, the lack of information on “Ibitipoca”) (n = 1). All studied sites are located in the Espinhaço tropical mountains makes it difficult to elaborate conservation plans. Mountains, except for Ibitipoca. What we know about ants from rocky grasslands comes As we aimed at providing a broad inventory of the ant fauna, from case studies on ant species associated with a particular plant we used studies carried out with different sampling efforts and or area (e.g., Guerra et al., 2011; Viana-Silva & Jacobi, 2012; methods. Table 1 describes the samples collected from the literature, Fagundes et al., 2013). However, a complete record that comprises including information on sampling method, environment, and the whole diversity and distribution of ants is still missing. In order location. Details on species identification are given for each study. Table 1. Sites where ants were sampled in the Brazilian rocky grasslands. Altitudinal Geographic coordinates Sampling sites Reference Sampling method Environment Range (m) provided in the study 19°21’36.2’’ S, 43°36’25.2’’ W 19°16’17.8’’ S, 43°36’18.1’’ W 19°15’50.6’’ S, 43°35’10.3’’ W pitfalls, Winkler, cerrado ecotones, Serra do Cipó region Lana, 20151 800 – 1400 19°13’56.5’’ S, 43°34’34.8’’ W beating and sweep net rocky grasslands 19°17’43.0’’ S, 43°33’17.4’’ W 19°17’49.6” S, 43°35’28.2” W 19°16’59.3’’ S, 43°32’08.9’’ W 20°22’30” S, 43°32’30” W Itacolomi State Park Rocky grasslands, 20°27’55.4” S, 43°35’59” W Almeida et al., 2014*2 active capture 1200 – 1500 region canga outcrops 20°21’47” S, 43°30’10” W 20º22’27” S, 43º32’22” W observations and active Itacolomi State Park Fagundes et al., 2013*3 Rocky grasslands 1400 20°26’26’’ S, 43°30’52’’ W capture Serra do Rola Moça 20°03’35.19’’ S, 44°00’41.9’’ W Viana-Silva & Jacobi, 2012*4 ground baits canga outcrops 1400 – 1500 State Park 20°03’33.57’’S, 44°01’52.01’’ W baits, observations and Itacolomi State Park Rosumek, 2009*5 canga outcrops 1320 - 1400 20º26’18” S, 43º30’35” W active capture Rocky grasslands, 19º10’00’’ to 19º40’00’’ S, Serra do Cipó region Soares, 2003*6 baited pitfalls 800 - 1600 Cerrado ecotone 43º30’00’’ to 43º 55’00’’ W Rocky grasslands, 19º10’00’’ to 19º40’00’’ S, Serra do Cipó region Araújo & Fernandes, 2003*7 baits and active capture 800 – 1400 Cerrado ecotone 43º30’00’’ to 43º55’00’’ W Sales et al., 2014*8 active capture Rocky grasslands 1400 21º42’00’’ S, 43º53’00’’ W Ibitipoca State Park *Studies found through an online survey; Superscript numbers provide reference for sources in the full list of species (Table 2).