ANT SPECIES DIVERSITY AND COMPOSITION AT MLINGANO MANGO ORCHARD IN TANZANIA

ABSTRACT: Ants are major decomposers and they are sensitive to any human influence in our environment. Presence or absence of ants in cropland habitat is resulted from alteration of forest habitat into cropland. Ant's species diversity in mango orchard was considered as an important biodiversity indicator due to alteration of the primary forest into cropland habitat. Ants were sampled from mango trees searching species of ants from tree bases to 2M high. Dental rolls with 10% sugar as attractant bait were also used to attract ground preference of ant species. Attractant bait was placed on a tree base for 30 minutes and thereafter inspected for data collection. This study has revealed that ant species composition in mango orchard varies according to cropping system. Dominance of species was Crematogaster followed by Pheidole megacephala and the least was Oecopyhlla longinoda ants. Comparison of species composition revealed that there were significant differences. Species with low representative individuals were considered as extinct or rare species. The intended study was carried out at Mlingano mango orchard with the aim to determine the ant's species diversity and composition. The results from this work will help in developing sustainable biodiversity conservation programmes as well as for future research