Use of ground-dwelling arthropods as bioindicators of ecological condition in grassland and forest vegetation at eThekwini Municipality in KwaZulu- Natal by ZABENTUNGWA T. HLONGWANE 211521338 Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the academic requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the Discipline of Ecological science, School of Life Sciences College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg South Africa 2018 i Contents List of tables ........................................................................................................................................... iii List of figures ......................................................................................................................................... iv List of appendices ................................................................................................................................... vi Preface ................................................................................................................................................... vii Declaration 1: Plagiarism ..................................................................................................................... viii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ ix Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1: Introduction and Literature Review ....................................................................................... 1 Aim ...................................................................................................................................................... 2 Objectives ............................................................................................................................................ 2 Literature Review ................................................................................................................................ 3 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 8 References ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 2: Epigaeic ant diversity and distribution across the Sandstone Sourveld in KwaZulu-Natal. 13 Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. 13 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 13 Materials and Methods ...................................................................................................................... 15 Results ............................................................................................................................................... 17 Discussion ......................................................................................................................................... 23 References ......................................................................................................................................... 26 Chapter 3: Epigaeic arthropod assemblages in different vegetation types in KwaZulu-Natal Sandstone Sourveld ................................................................................................................................................ 33 Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. 33 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 34 Materials and Methods ...................................................................................................................... 36 Results ............................................................................................................................................... 38 Discussion ......................................................................................................................................... 48 References ......................................................................................................................................... 52 Chapter 4: General Summary and Recommendations ........................................................................... 60 Summary of findings ......................................................................................................................... 60 Recommendations ............................................................................................................................. 62 References ......................................................................................................................................... 62 Appendices ........................................................................................................................................ 64 ii List of tables Table 2. 1. Percentage completeness of ground-dwelling ant assemblages derived from six richness estimators (ACE mean, ICE mean, Jack2, Chao 2, MM Mean and Bootstrap) available in EstimateS 9.1.0 package (Colwell, 2013) across three vegetation types in Tanglewood and Giba Gorge Reserves ............................................................................................................... 19 Table 2. 2. Overall similarity of epigaeic ant species composition sampled in the forest, disturbed and intact vegetation type ........................................................................................ 23 Table 3. 1. Percentage completeness of epigaeic arthropod assemblages derived from six richness estimators (ACE mean, ICE mean, Jack2, Chao 2, MM Mean and Bootstrap) available in EstimateS 9.1.0 package (Colwell, 2013) across three vegetation types in Tanglewood and Giba Gorge Reserves ............................................................................................................... 43 Table 3. 2. Overall similarity of epigaeic arthropods composition sampled in the forest, grassland and disturbed vegetation type .................................................................................. 43 Table 3. 3. Mean (±SE) species abundance of functional guild sampled across three vegetation type in Tanglewood and Giba Gorge Nature Reserves ............................................................ 46 Table 3. 4. Total species richness of arthropod functional guilds sampled across three vegetation types in Tanglewood and Giba Gorge Reserves .................................................... 47 Table 3. 5. Mean (±SE) species abundance of functional guild sampled in the wet and dry season in Tanglewood and Giba Gorge Nature Reserves ........................................................ 47 Table 3.6. Total species richness of arthropod functional guilds sampled in the wet and dry season in Tanglewood and Giba Gorge Reserve ..................................................................... 48 iii List of figures Fig. 2. 1. Map of the study area. .............................................................................................. 16 Fig. 2. 2. Mean (±SE) species abundance of epigaeic ants sampled at different vegetation types in Tanglewood and Giba Gorge Reserves. .............................................................................. 20 Fig. 2. 3. Species richness of epigaeic ants sampled at different vegetation types in Tanglewood and Giba Gorge Reserves......................................................................................................... 20 Fig. 2. 4. Mean (±SE) species abundance of epigaeic ants sampled in wet and dry season at Tanglewood and Giba Gorge Nature Reserves. ....................................................................... 20 Fig. 2. 5. Species richness of epigaeic ants sampled in wet and dry season at Tanglewood and Giba Gorge Nature Reserves. .................................................................................................. 21 Fig. 2. 6. Estimated species accumulation curves in three vegetation types at (a) Tanglewood Reserve (b) Giba Gorge Reserve. ............................................................................................ 22 Fig. 2. 7. Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (nMDS) of epigaeic ant assemblages in three vegetation types in (a) Tanglewood and (b) Giba Gorge Reserves. Circles represent disturbed grassland, stars represent forest and squares represent intact grassland. ................................. 22 Fig. 3. 1. Mean (±SE) species abundance of epigaeic arthropods sampled at different vegetation types in Tanglewood and Giba Gorge Reserves. ..................................................................... 41 Fig. 3. 2. Total species richness of epigaeic arthropods sampled at different vegetation types in Tanglewood and Giba Gorge Reserves.................................................................................... 41 iv Fig. 3. 3. Mean (±SE) species abundance of epigaeic arthropods sampled in dry and wet season at Tanglewood and Giba Gorge Reserves. ..............................................................................