Monitoring ant assemblages of oak wood-pastures. A case study from Eastern Europe
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Monitoring ant assemblages of oak wood-pastures. A case study from Eastern Europe Ioan Tăușan 1 & Ionică M. Muraru 1 & Kinga Öllerer 2,3 Received: 15 August 2019 / Accepted: 5 October 2020 # Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences 2020
Abstract Habitats associated with oak may host high insect diversity, especially saproxylic species, due to the availability of specific microhabitats such as dead wood, rotten logs and woody debris. Among the insects occurring in such habitats, ants play a major role in forest ecosystems as generalist predators. Ant assemblages were investigated using different types of traps. Sampling was carried out in 2015 and 2016, in a wood-pasture located in eastern Transylvania (Romania). Differences between species richness and composition in different types of oak habitats were tested: solitary oak in pasture, oak stand, and the ecotone separating them. Altogether a total of 17 ant species were identified. The three habitats shared an important proportion of the species, yet significant differences between the three habitats in terms of community composition were found. The highest diversity of ant species was recorded in the oak stands, followed by the solitary trees, though differences were not significant. Oak associated habitats can sustain high diversity of ant species and moreover thermophilic specialists thrive. Finally, the abundance of Lasius brunneus is highlighted, the species being proposed as a wood-pasture specialist. Keywords Formicidae . Community ecology . Trapping . Thermophilic ants . Lasius brunneus
Introduction Wood-pastures possess both cultural and ecological significance, can provide favourable micro-habitats for a highly diverse group of organisms (Moga et al. 2009; Hartel et al. 2013; Falk 2014; Öllerer 2014; Hartel and Plieninger 2014; Gallé et al. 2017). These silvopastoral systems occur in a wide range of physiognomies, varying from park-like stands, open grassland areas with scattered trees, to near-natural forests in
* Ioan Tăușan [email protected] Ionică M. Muraru [email protected] Kinga Öllerer [email protected] 1
Faculty of Sciences, Applied Ecology Research Centre, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Dr. Raţiu 5–7, 550012 Sibiu, Romania
2
Institute of Biology Bucharest, Romanian Academy, Spl. Independenței 296, 060031 Bucharest, Romania
3
MTA Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Alkotmány u. 2–4, Vácrátót 2163, Hungary
which grazing has a determinant role (Bergmeier et al. 2010; Hartel and Plieninger 2014). A characteristic feature of these highly threatened ecosystems is represented by scattered, often veteran trees, particularly oaks, with high ecological and conservation value for a great variety of species (Manning et al. 2006; Horák and Rébl 2013; Horák et al. 2014; Sebek et al. 2016; Moga et al. 2016), including ants (Reyes-López et al. 2003; Dolek et al. 2009; Frizzo and Vasconcelos 2013). Ants are considered ecosystem engineers, being key components of various habitats (Frou
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