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Evans, Cody

Griffith, Josh

English

Morehead State University

Strumigenysen.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/StrumigenysSolenopsiswww.antwiki.org/wiki/SolenopsisHypoponeraEn.m.Wikipedia/wiki/HypoponeraParatrechinaEn.m.Wikipedia.org/File:Paratrechina_longicornis_casent0134863_profile_1.jpgJosh Griffith, Cody Evans, and Sean O’Keefe, mentorBiodiversity using Ants as a Surrogate GroupSpring 2019Department of Biology & Chemistry,College of ScienceABSTRACTBiodiversity is the measure of taxonomic diversity anddisparity within an area. Biodiversity is important forconservation evaluation as well as ecological assessments.Several groups of organisms have been used to assessbiodiversity, such as plants, mammals, birds, butterflies,beetles, etc. Ants represent another potential surrogate taxonfor biodiversity. They occur in many types of habitats, fulfill avariety of ecological roles, can be diverse and numerous, andthere are several very good references for identification. Over9,000 species are known worldwide, and ants are among themost numerous individuals in many habitats. For this study,ants were collected from leaf litter, pan traps, and Lindgrenfunnels in an ecotone as well as from leaf litter in the woodsnear Eagle Lake. The ecotone represents the disturbedtransition area between woods and a field; the woods representa less-disturbed area of continuous habitat. Specimens werelabeled, organized, and identified in order to analyze thediversity of ants between these two habitat types. Some speciesof ants were more numerous in the ecotone, but a greaterdiversity of ants occurred in the woods.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe would like to thank Morehead State University forallowing us to collect samples around the Eagle Lake areaand the Department of Biology and Chemistry for thelaboratory space and the materials to conduct our study.MATERIALS and METHODSThere are multiple methods for collecting ants. Theseinclude sifting through leaf litter, pan traps, Lindgren funnel traps,pitfall traps, and hand-picking, which consists of collecting antsfrom under stones and bark, within rotting wood, from trails orvegetation, and locating nests. For this study, we employedLindgren funnel traps, yellow pan traps, and sifting of leaf litter.Lindgren funnel traps are made of locking stacks of blackplastic funnels (Figure 3). Three of these were hung on shepherd’shooks along the ecotone and three were hung within the nearbywoods near Eagle Lake. Ants travelling above the trap that fall inare kept due to the smooth sides of the funnels. The ants aredropped into a collection jar and collected later.REFERENCESAfter samples were pulled and separated from the Berlesefunnels, they were put on points (Figure 8), or small triangularpieces of paper, using clear nail polish as an adhesive. These werethen pinned and sorted. This makes labelling and identifying easier.Labelling (Figure 9) is done to record the date of collection,location, and collection method for each specimen.Berlese funnels (Figures 6 and 7) were used to separate outorganisms from the leaf litter collection method. The sifted materialis placed on a screen covered in cheese cloth which lies in thefunnel. A light bulb is held above the litter to encourage insects tomove down through the litter and eventually into the funnel. Due tothe smooth sides of the funnel all insects are dropped into acollection container full of alcohol. Insects are then pulled andsorted.RESULTSMississippientomologicalmuseum.orgmsstate.edu/Researchtaxapages/Formicidaepages/genericpages/Myrmec.American.htmMyrmecinaBrachymyrmexEn.m.Wikipedia.org/wiki/BrachymyrmexAmblyopone DorymyrmexEn.m.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorymyrmex_insanusAphaenogasterAntwiki.org/File:Aphaenogaster-treatae-MCZ001D.jpgFigure 1 Woods Habitat Figure 2 EcotoneFor sifting leaf litter (Figure 5), leaf litter was collectedfrom the forest floor, with preference given to areas with fungalgrowth. This included areas near fallen logs and visible fungi. Thismaterial was sifted through a special tool comprised of a screenaffixed to a wire loupe with a handle. A collection bag wasattached to the bottom of the apparatus. As material was loadedinto the sifter, large objects such as twigs and leaves and rockswere separated from the finer soil and insects.Pan traps (Figures 4) are nothing more than a 9x12 bakingpan painted yellow placed on the ground and filled with a mixtureof dish soap and salt water. The purpose of the soap is to break thesurface tension of the water and allow for any insects that findtheir way in to rapidly sink rather than stand on the surface of thewater. The salt simply keeps the water from evaporating asquickly, allowing for the trap to be left in the field longer. Threepan traps were deployed along the ecotone and three were placedwithin the nearby woods.Figure 3 Lindgren Funnel Figure 4 Yellow Pan Trap Figure 5 Sifting Leaf Litter.Figure 6 Setup of Burlese Funnel Figure 7 Burlese Funnel Figure 8 Pointing a specimen. Figure 9 Labeled specimensTable 1. Number of ants of each genus collected from leaf litter from ecotone and woodsDISCUSSION  Ants are usually found in clumped distributions; therefore,one can reasonably expect to find very large or small numbersof individuals in any given sample. This justifies our recordeddata for the genera Solenopsis (Figure 17), Amblyopone(Figure 18), Dorymyrmex (Figure 19), Camponotus, andStrumigenys sp2. On the other hand, the genera Hypoponera,Paratrechina, and Brachymyrmex showed a distinct clumpeddistribution, each having 30-100 individuals that were notprepared. The ants collected within the sampling range showeda high level of diversity in genera, location, and numbers.These data are useful when looking for a measure of generalbiodiversity in the area. It was not surprising to find any ofthese genera where we did due to the ecotone sharing featuresof both woods and fields.Some genera were represented by a few individuals.These were Camponotus, Solenopsis, Strumigenys sp2,Amblyopone, and, Dorymyrmex. Due to so few specimenscollected it was difficult to determine if the location that theywere collected was reasonable. These low quantities could bethe result of collecting individuals that have strayed from thecolony in search of food, or by collecting an ant from a verysmall colony.All of the ants collected were collected via leaf littersifting. This allowed for a better comparison during theanalysis of data. We attempted to collect ants using Lindgrenfunnel traps; but no specimens were collected. This wasanticipated. We also tried collecting ants with yellow pantraps. This, unlike the Lindgren funnels, did give us samples.They were, however, all Camponotus. This showed us that itwas not worth setting these traps in order to collect ants.In this study, we collected ten different genera of ants.A total of 190 individuals were prepared (Table 1). We founda total of 45 individuals in the ecotone and 145 in the woods.Some genera were found nearly or entirely in one habitat orthe other. The genera Hypoponera (Figure 10), Paratrechina(Figure 11), Brachymyrmex (Figure 12), and Camponotus(Figure 13) were found exclusively in the woods. Somegenera showed to be divided amongst both ecotone andwoods. These genera were Aphaenogaster (Figure 14),Strumigenys Sp1 (Figure 15), and Myrmecina (Figure 16). Nogenera were found to be found in the ecotone only withexception to those with very few individuals.CamponotusEn.m.Wiipedia.org/wiki/CamponotusFigure 10 Figure 11Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14Figure 15Figure 16 Figure 17Figure 18 Figure 19Department of Biology and Chemistry College of Science Agosti, D., J.D. Majer, L.E. Alonso, and T.R. Schultz (eds.).2000. Ants: Standard Methods for Measuring andMonitoring Biodiversity. Smithsonian Institution Press,Washington, D.C..Bolton, B. 1994. Identification Guide to the Ant Genera of theWorld. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.Vinson, S.B., S. O’Keefe, and J. Cook. 203. The Common AntGenera of Texas. Texas Agricultural Experiment Station,College Station, TX.INTRODUCTIONBiodiversity is surveying the taxonomic diversity of aparticular ecosystem. It can be very telling of the overallecological health of the area. Mammals, birds, lizards,butterflies, and plants have often been used to measure thebiodiversity of an area. Ants, which are ubiquitous andnumerous may also be used to assess biodiversity of an area.Ants appear to be an ideal candidate for use as anindicator taxon because they are diverse, found abundantly inalmost every terrestrial habitat in the world, and easily collected(Agosti et al. 2000). Ant species typically have a stationarynest, with restricted foraging areas. This makes them a betterindicator taxon than other insects which move frequentlybetween ecosystems in search of food, mates, or nesting sites.Thus, making ants a more constant presence across a wholeecosystem. This allows them to be sampled reliably. Ants areimportant ecologically because they function at many levels inan ecosystem; as predators and prey, as detrivores (organismsthat feed on decaying matter), mutualist, and herbivores.An efficient method of surveying the biodiversity of theEagle Lake area is to focus on a single diverse taxonomicgroup, referred to as an indicator taxon. In this particular studywe collected samples of ants from two different areas aroundEagle Lake; woods (Figure 1) and ecotone (Figure 2). Anecotone is the transition between two habitat types. The goal ofthis study was to identify ants to genus from these two areasand record the number of individuals of each species. Thesedata were analyzed to find any correlations between a genus’abundance and the location in which it was collected.Figure 20 Figure 21 Figure 22Identifying the genera of ants was the next step after thesamples were properly pointed and labeled. We utilized twoidentification guides of common ant genera, Bolton (1994) andVinson et al. (2003) that gave us step-by-step instructions ondistinguishing individual genera by comparing varyingcharacteristics of the specimens’ morphology.Figures 10 – 19. Pictures of ant genera collected in our study.

Biodiversity using Ants as a Surrogate Group

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Biodiversity using Ants as a Surrogate Group

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