Diferenças sazonais nas comunidades de formigas em diferentes usos e ocupações do solo

Abstract

Ecological indicators are crucial for analyzing ecosystems, and expanding them beyond parameters such as vegetation is beneficial for enhancing the understanding of ecosystem functioning. In this context, ants are excellent indicators due to their sensitivity to environmental changes and ease of collection. Seasonal semideciduous forests are characterized by seasonality, with distinct dry and rainy periods throughout the year, which can influence the ecological indicators analyzed. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate whether seasonality affects ant communities in three distinct land-use types: pasture, restored areas, and forest remnants. The diversity of ant communities was estimated using species richness, abundance, Chao1, Simpson's dominance index, and Shannon's diversity index. Species composition was compared using similarity matrices based on the Bray-Curtis and Sørensen coefficients. Repeated Measures ANOVA was used to compare diversity between the two sampling periods and the three study areas, while PERMANOVA was applied to assess species composition. A total of 4,595 ants were identified, belonging to 6 subfamilies and 31 genera. For diversity analyses, dominance differed between pasture and forest and was higher during the dry season, resulting in lower diversity indices during this period, indicating seasonal and land-use differences. Regarding species composition, significant differences were observed between land-use types using the Bray-Curtis coefficient, which considers sampled abundance, with pasture differing from restored areas and forest remnants. The Sorensen coefficient indicated that differences depend on the season. Thus, ant communities in restored areas are on a trajectory toward recovery, resembling those in forest remnants. Furthermore, understanding seasonal dynamics is essential and should be considered in analyses, as the timing of data collection may influence the results obtained.