The relative distributions of ant species in Ghana's cocoa farms
(1) Forty-eight genera and 128 species of ants are listed from various microhabitats in 250 m2 of a cocoa-farm locality in Ghana. (2) The ant faunas of the microhabitats are compared, and it is noted that the majority of the species nest in dead wood and forage in the litter. (3) Two broad categories of foraging microhabitat are recognized-exposed and cavity. (4) Three species of ant invaders into the forest zone from savannah were taken in the locality. (5) The relative distributions of species' foraging territories in insolated cocoa canopy were investigated. (6) The frequencies of sixty-seven species in 168 samples are given, and may be taken as a rough guide to the relative abundance of territories of these species. (7) The mechanisms underlying numerical dominance in cocoa-farm ants are discussed and some implications for the use of ants as biological control agents are suggested. (8) It was shown that the five common dominant ants of the microhabitat had significantly different numbers of subdominant ants associated with them. It is suggested that this reflects the relative specializations of those dominant ants. (9) Unmodified X exponent 2 analysis of the data was found to give a meaningful grouping of species into communities. It is suggested, along very general lines, how these communities function and interact with those species not included in them. (10) The extremely close association between Oecophylla longinoda and Crematogaster castanea?, and its significance, are briefly discussed.
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| Format: | biblioteca |
| Language: | eng |
| Published: |
Londres (Reino Unido): British Ecological Society,
1972
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| Subjects: | THEOBROMA CACAO, FORMICIDAE, HABITAT, NIDACION, MUESTREO, CONTROL DE PLAGAS, CONTROL BIOLOGICO, NIDIFICACION, GHANA, |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2307/2401717 |
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| Summary: | (1) Forty-eight genera and 128 species of ants are listed from various microhabitats in 250 m2 of a cocoa-farm locality in Ghana. (2) The ant faunas of the microhabitats are compared, and it is noted that the majority of the species nest in dead wood and forage in the litter. (3) Two broad categories of foraging microhabitat are recognized-exposed and cavity. (4) Three species of ant invaders into the forest zone from savannah were taken in the locality. (5) The relative distributions of species' foraging territories in insolated cocoa canopy were investigated. (6) The frequencies of sixty-seven species in 168 samples are given, and may be taken as a rough guide to the relative abundance of territories of these species. (7) The mechanisms underlying numerical dominance in cocoa-farm ants are discussed and some implications for the use of ants as biological control agents are suggested. (8) It was shown that the five common dominant ants of the microhabitat had significantly different numbers of subdominant ants associated with them. It is suggested that this reflects the relative specializations of those dominant ants. (9) Unmodified X exponent 2 analysis of the data was found to give a meaningful grouping of species into communities. It is suggested, along very general lines, how these communities function and interact with those species not included in them. (10) The extremely close association between Oecophylla longinoda and Crematogaster castanea?, and its significance, are briefly discussed. |
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