| Authors |
Tatyana V. Popkova, PhD student, Department of Botany and Zoology, Institute of Biology and Biomedicine, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod (603950, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod Region, Nizhny Novgorod, Gagarin Avenue, 23); iD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8397-4462; e-mail: tatyanapopkovaptv@yandex.ru
Vladimir A. Zryanin, PhD, Associate Professor of the Department of Botany and Zoology, Institute of Biology and Biomedicine, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod (603950, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod Region, Nizhny Novgorod, Gagarin Avenue, 23); iD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4769-5554; e-mail: zryanin@list.ru
Alexander B. Ruchin, Dr.Sc., Director of the Joint Directorate of the Mordovia State Nature Reserve and National Park «Smolny» (430005, Russia, Republic of Mordovia, Saransk, Krasnaya Street, 30); iD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2653-3879; e-mail: ruchin.alexander@gmail.com |
| Abstract |
Ants form an important insect group in many terrestrial ecosystems. The research of ant species diversity is a relevant line of ecological and faunistic studies to completely reveal the biodiversity. Particular attention is given to Protected Areas where a high level of ant species diversity is known. The study of ant fauna and ant community structure was carried out in the Mordovia State Nature Reserve in 2014–2020. Material has been obtained using hand collecting, on census routes, and using carbohydrate and protein baits. The annotated list of ants in the Mordovia State Nature Reserve includes 42 species belonging to 11 genera and three subfamilies. Of them, 17 species are reported for the first time in this Protected Area. Most ant species belong to the genera of Formica, Lasius, and Myrmica, which amount to approximately 75% of the ant species richness in the Mordovia State Nature Reserve. The zoogeographical analysis of the ant fauna demonstrated seven geographical range types with a predominance of the European-West-Siberian and North-Palaearctic ranges. The ant diversity was analysed using the Renyi diversity profile based on census route data. The spatial distribution of ant species was estimated using detrended correspondence analysis. We found a high level of ant species diversity, conditioned by the effect of species evenness in the Mordovia State Nature Reserve. The most species-specific habitats were pine (Pinus sylvestris) forests with Convallaria majalis predominance in herb layer, linden (Tilia cordata) forests with participation of Betula pendula and Picea abies, dry Poa pratensis-dominated meadows, and moist meadows with predominance of Lupinus polyphyllus. The differences between the studied habitats were determined by microclimate conditions for specific ant species. On the model plots, the ant species density was about 7 species per 100 m2 in average. |
| References |
Andersen A.N., Hoffmann B.D., Oberprieler S. 2018. Diversity and biogeography of a species-rich ant fauna of the Australian seasonal tropics. Insect Science 25(3): 519–526. DOI: 10.1111/1744-7917.12402
Arnan X., Cerdá X., Retana J. 2014. Ant functional responses along environmental gradients. Journal of Animal Ecology 83(6): 1398–1408. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12227
Arnoldi K.V. 1968. Zonal Zoogeographic and Ecological Specificity of the Ant Fauna and Population in the Russian Plain. Zoologicheskii Zhurnal 47(8): 1155–1178. [In Russian]
Beh E.J., Lombardo R. 2019. A Geneaology of Correspondence Analysis: Part 2 – The Variants. Electronic Journal of Applied Statistical Analysis 12(2): 552–603. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-842X.2012.00676.x
Bolton B. 2021. An online catalog of the ants of the world. Available from: https://antcat.org
Borowiec M.L. 2011. First records of Lasius sabularum (Bondroit, 1918) in Poland (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News 14: 137–140.
Czechowski W., Radchenko A. 2006. Do permanently mixed colonies of wood ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) really exist? Annales Zoologici 56(4): 667–673.
Czechowski W., Radchenko A., Czechowska W. 2002. The ants of Poland. Warszawa. 200 p.
Dubovikoff D.A., Yusupov Z.M. 2017. Family Formicidae – Ants. In: S.A. Belokobylskij, A.S. Lelej (Eds.): Annotated catalogue of the Hymenoptera of Russia. Vol. 1. Symphyta and Apocrita: Aculeata. Saint Petersburg. P. 197–210.
Espadaler X., Prince A. 2001. Lasius platythorax Seifert, 1991 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Spain. Orsis 16: 189–192.
Folgarait P.J. 1998. Ant biodiversity and its relationship to ecosystem functioning: a review. Biodiversity and Conservation 7(9): 1221–1244. DOI: 10.1023/A:1008891901953
Gillespie T.W., Lipkin B., Sullivan L., Benowitz D.R., Pau S., Keppel G. 2012. The rarest and least protected forests in biodiversity hotspots. Biodiversity and Conservation 21(14): 3597–3611. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-012-0384-1
Hill M.O., Gauch H.G. 1980. Detrended correspondence analysis: an improved ordination technique. Vegetatio 42(1–3): 47–58. DOI: 10.1007/BF00048870
Khapugin A.A., Vargot E.V., Chugunov G.G. 2016. Vegetation recovery in fire-damaged forests: a case study at the southern boundary of the taiga zone. Forestry Studies 64(1): 39–50. DOI: 10.1515/fsmu-2016-0003
Longino J.T., Coddington J., Colwell R.K. 2002. The ant fauna of a tropical rain forest: estimating species richness three different ways. Ecology 83(3): 689–702. DOI: 10.1890/0012-9658(2002)083[0689:TAFOAT]2.0.CO;2
Mehmood A., Shah A.H., Shah A.H., Khan S.U., Ahmad H. 2016. Detrended correspondence analysis of vegetation in district tor ghar, Westren Himalaya. Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences 9(2): 2222–3045.
Menezes A.S., Schmidt F.A. 2020. Mechanisms of species coexistence and functional diversity of ant assemblages in forest and pasture habitats in southwestern Brazilian Amazon. Sociobiology 67(1): 33–40. DOI: 10.13102/sociobiology.v67i1.4552
Milkov F.N. 1953. Middle Volga region. Physico-geographic description. Moscow: AS USSR. 262 p. [In Russian]
Oksanen J. 2011. Multivariate Analysis of Ecological Communities in R: Vegan Tutorial. Available from: http://cc.oulu.fi/wjarioksa/opetus/metodi/vegantutor.pdf
Oksanen J. 2015. Vegan: an introduction to ordination. Available from: http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/vegan/vignettes/introvegan.pdf
Plavilshchikov N.N. 1964. A list of insect species found in the Mordovia State Nature Reserve. Proceedings of the Mordovia State Nature Reserve 2: 105–134. [In Russian]
Radchenko A.G. 2016. Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Ukraine. Kiev: Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology. 480 p. [In Russian]
Rahman M.M., Jahan M.N. 2019. Species diversity and richness of ant (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Bhawal National Park of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Journal of Agricultural Research 44(4): 679–688. DOI: 10.3329/bjar.v44i4.45727
Red Data Book of the Nizhniy Novgorod Region. Vol. 1: Animals. Nizhny Novgorod, 2014. 446 p. [In Russian]
Red Data Book of the Ryazan Region. Ryazan: Golos Gubernii, 2011. 626 p. [In Russian]
Ricklefs R.E. 2004. A comprehensive framework for global patterns in biodiversity. Ecology Letters 7(1): 1–15. DOI: 10.1046/j.1461-0248.2003.00554.x
Ruchin A.B., Zryanin V.A. 2013. To the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Republic of Mordovia. In: Ants and Forest Protection. Moscow: KMK Scientific Press Ltd. P. 108–110. [In Russian]
Ruchin A.B., Egorov L.V., Khapugin A.A., Vikhrev N.E., Esin M.N. 2020. The use of simple crown traps for the insects collection. Nature Conservation Research 5(1): 87–108. DOI: 10.24189/ncr.2020.008
Ruzsky M.D. 1905. The ants of Russia. Vol. 1. Proceedings of the Kazan Society of Naturalists 38(4–6): 1–800. [In Russian]
Ruzsky M.D. 1907. The ants of Russia. Vol. 2. Proceedings of the Kazan Society of Naturalists 40(1): 1–112. [In Russian]
Ślipiński P., Markó B., Rzeszowski K., Babik H., Czechowski W. 2014. Lasius fuliginosus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) shapes local ant assemblages. North-Western Journal of Zoology 10(2): 404–412.
Sondej I., Domisch T., Finér L., Czechowski W. 2018. Wood ants in the Białowieża Forest and factors affecting their distribution. Annales Zoologici Fennici 55(1–3): 103–114. DOI: 10.5735/086.055.0110
Tóthmérész B. 1995. Comparison of different methods for diversity ordering. Journal of Vegetation Science 6(2): 283–290. DOI: 10.2307/3236223
Warren R.J., Mathew A., Reed K., Bayba S., Krupp K., Spiering D.J. 2019. Myrmica rubra microhabitat selection and putative ecological impact. Ecological Entomology 44(2): 239–248. DOI: 10.1111/een.12700
Wilkie K.T.R., Mertl A.L., Traniello J.F.A. 2010. Species diversity and distribution patterns of the ants of Amazonian Ecuador. PLoS ONE 5(10): e13146. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0013146
Zakharov A.A., Sablin-Yavorsky A.D. 1998. Ants in biological diversity research. Advances in Modern Biology 118: 246–264. [In Russian]
Zryanin V.A., Zryanina T.A. 2007. New data about ant fauna (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in the Middle Volga River Basin. Advances in Modern Biology 127(2): 226–240. [In Russian] |
