Composition and richness of edaphic ants (hymenoptera: formicidae) in cerrado phytophysiognomy, in eastern maranhense

Abstract

It is impossible to discuss terrestrial biodiversity without mentioning ants, since they represent the largest part of the arthropod fauna, found in virtually all terrestrial environments. In this context, the present work aims to evaluate the composition and richness of the edaphic ant fauna in Cerrado physiognomic forms (Cerrado senso stricto and riparian forest), in the Inhamum APA, Caxias, Maranhão. The experimental area studied was divided into three areas; one edge area and two other areas with distinct phytophysiognomies. Area 1: Roadside (10 meters from the border); Area 2: Cerrado senso stricto (250 meters from the first transect of the border area); and Area 3: Riparian forest (500 meters from the first transect of the Cerrado senso stricto area). The material obtained for the study was collected between 2019 and 2020, during the months of october-december/2019 and january-march/2020, using Provid-type traps. Stored in the laboratory, this material was identified, sorted, quantified, an assembly was made and, subsequent identification of the specimens. For the statistical analyses, initially a database was produced in the Microsoft Excel software program and, for the faunal analyses, the ANAFAU and EstimateS programs were used. In general, there were 3,007 Formicidae, distributed in 8 subfamilies and 26 genera. There were 1,604 individuals in Area I, 909 in Area II, and 494 in Area III. Area I (road margin - edge) was more abundant in individuals than the other areas (II and III). The subfamily that stood out in taxon richness and abundance of individuals was the Myrmicinae. The most abundant, dominant, frequent and constant genus for all areas was Pheidole. As for the diversity indices (Shannon-Wiener) obtained for the three areas studied, Area III (500 M) showed the highest diversity, which was confirmed by the Pielou index (e). However, the richness estimators and the accumulation curves obtained for the three areas studied revealed that the sampling effort was not enough to fully quantify the genera, because the richness of the ground-forming insects in the Inhamum APA is under-sampled.