Abstract
A knowledge of the fauna of natural areas is necessary for their sustainable management. Thus, intensive ant sampling over multiple years was conducted at Arkansas Post National Memorial in southeastern Arkansas. Our collecting techniques included: pitfalls; leaf litter sifting with Berlese extraction; breaking into twigs, branches, and coarse woody debris located on the ground; baiting tree trunks with peanut butter; and general hand collecting. Ants were collected from diverse habitats, including: open mowed-grass, mowed-grass under hardwood trees, unmowed tall-grass and weeds, and numerous forest types. A total of 43 species in 25 genera and 6 subfamilies were identified. The number of species discovered varied by sampling technique: leaf litter extraction collected 28, wood breaking 29, tree baiting 9, hand collecting 25, and pitfalls 35. Two-way hierarchical cluster analysis of ant species against sampled habitats showed that 5 species were almost ubiquitous, while 9 species were present in many of the forested habitats, and 29 other species were much less common. The analysis also showed that successionally “older” forested habitats usually had richer ant communities than successionally “younger” ones, although there were several important exceptions. Additionally, mowed areas without trees supported the fewest ant species, while mowed areas with overhead trees supported more species.
Recommended Citation
General, David M. and Thompson, Lynne C.
(2008)
"Ants of Arkansas Post National Memorial: How and Where Collected,"
Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science: Vol. 62, Article 10.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uark.edu/jaas/vol62/iss1/10
