Análise da composição da fauna de formigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) atraídas a iscas, nos períodos diurno e noturno, no solo e na vegetação e em diferentes épocas do ano, na mata atlântica do Parque Estadual Morro do Diabo – SP

Abstract

Ants are relevant organisms to the maintenance of evolutionary processes from terrestrial ecosystems. Studying the diversity of ants as well as how their communities are structured contributes to expand knowledge about these evolutionary processes. The goal of this study consisted in analyzing the fauna of ants which visits attractive baits in relation to the seasons of year, the activity periods of day and night, and the foraging stratum of soil and vegetation. The research was carried out in the Atlantic Forest from Morro do Diabo State Park, in São Paulo state. To collect ants, it was built a grid with an area of 1ha (100m x 100m), in which 121 points were generated and distributed in 11 transects. Twenty five points were drawn for each one of the collection of ants with sardine and honey baits, both in day and night period, and for the four seasons of the year indeed. The individuals were identified, morphotyped at the lowest possible taxonomic level, and placed in the Hymenoptera collection from MuBio – UFGD. In total 118 species of ants were sampled by performing manual collections and by using attractive baits, and all these species were divided into seven subfamilies and 36 genera. 76 species were captured by baits and 42 species were captured by manual collections in the Park area. Only the sample of ants captured by baits was considered in the quantitative analysis. The results suggest that the variation between the habitats (soil and vegetation) is the main descriptor of the composition of the species of ants, according to the permanova analysis. The rich variation of the species observed was quantified through a factorial analysis of variance, which showed that this variation is meaningfully connected to the periods of the year. Morisita index reveals the existence of approximately 88% of similarity in what refers to day and night activity periods of ants. However, a NMDS analysis reveals that the composition of the species of ants collected is meaningfully distinct. This is the first in-depth study about Formicidae accomplished at Morro do Diabo State Park, and it has potential to contribute to future investigation developed in Atlantic Forest.