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Amaya Hernándes, L. M. ., Mera Velasco, . Y. A. ., Gallego Ropero, M. C. ., Montoya Lerma, J., & Armbrecht, I. . (2019). Herbivory of atta cephalotes (Hymenoptera : Formicidae) in patches of tropical dry forest of the colombian south-west region. Boletín Científico. Centro De Museos, 23(2), 171–189. https://doi.org/10.17151/bccm.2019.23.2.9
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Authors
Yamid Arley Mera Velasco
Universidad del Cauca
Abstract
In order to get a broad knowledge of the herbivory of the leaf cutting ant, Atta cephalotes, in the tropical dry forest, the foraging activity of twelve ant nests was studied in two patches of the dry forest: six in El Vínculo regional natural park in the Department of Valle del Cauca and six in La Pachuca in the Department of Cauca. From an inventory of nests present in each patch, a greater concentration of them was found in the edge and matrix area with respect to the interior of the patches being 84.11% for El Vínculo and 100% for La Pachuca. With the purpose of establishing if these areas offer more and better resources to the ants than the interior of the patches, a total of 300 leaf fragments that the ants transported were collected one meter from the main mound and 1.2 meters from the soil on the tree track in each nest between October 2015 and June 2016. Once the plant species were identified, the foliar area of these fragments were measured and weighed in their fresh and dry forms. In addition, different metric measures such as length, width and length of the foraging tracks were taken in each nest and the number of inactive and active mounds was made. It was found that the nests are founded at the edge and the matrix because they represent areas with initial successional processes that warrant the presence of pioneer plants with very palatable leaves and suitable for the consumption of the ants. The Fabaceae species was the most preferred. The foliar area of the plant fragments did not show significant differences between the diverse collections, nor among nests. On the other hand, the fresh and dry weight of the fragments collected was greater in the nests of El Vínculo forest patch and there were no significant differences among the number of leaf fragments collected on the foraging tracks. The number of active mounds was the only variable that presented statistical significance for the nests of La Pachuca forest patch. It is interpreted that the foraging activity is consistent in the different patches of dry forest that subsist in the southwestern region of Colombia.
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References
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ARCILA-CARDONA, A., VALDERRAMA-ARDILA, C. & CHACÓN-ULLOA, P., 2012.- Estado de fragmentación del bosque seco de la cuenca alta del río Cauca, Colombia. Biota Colombiana, 13: 86-101.
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CALDEIRA, M.A., ZANETTI, R., MORAES, J. & ZANUNCIO, J.C., 2005.- Distribuição espacial de sauveiros (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) em eucaliptais. Cerne, Lavras, 11(1): 34-39.
CARVALHO, K., BALCH, J. & MOUTINHO, P., 2012.- Influências de Atta spp. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) na recuperação da vegetação pós-fogo em floresta de transição amazónica. Acta Amazonica. 42 (1): 81-88.
CHAVES, M.C., 2006.- Evaluación preliminar del compostaje “Arrierón” para el control de la hormiga Atta cephalotes (L.) en Jamundí (Valle del Cauca, Colombia). Boletín del Museo de Entomología de la Universidad del Valle, 7 (1): 10-21.
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ARMBRECHT, I. & CHACÓN-ULLOA, P., 1997.- Composición y diversidad de hormigas en bosques secos relictuales y sus alrededores, en el Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Revista Colombiana de Entomología, 23 (1-2): 45-50.
BARRERA, C., BUFFA, L.M. & VALLADARES, G., 2015.- Do leaf-cutting ants benefit from forest fragmentation? Insights from community and species-specific responses in a fragmented dry forest. Insect Conservation and Diversity in The Royal Entomologicalb Society, Insect Conservation and Diversity, 8 (5): 456-463.
CALDEIRA, M.A., ZANETTI, R., MORAES, J. & ZANUNCIO, J.C., 2005.- Distribuição espacial de sauveiros (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) em eucaliptais. Cerne, Lavras, 11(1): 34-39.
CARVALHO, K., BALCH, J. & MOUTINHO, P., 2012.- Influências de Atta spp. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) na recuperação da vegetação pós-fogo em floresta de transição amazónica. Acta Amazonica. 42 (1): 81-88.
CHAVES, M.C., 2006.- Evaluación preliminar del compostaje “Arrierón” para el control de la hormiga Atta cephalotes (L.) en Jamundí (Valle del Cauca, Colombia). Boletín del Museo de Entomología de la Universidad del Valle, 7 (1): 10-21.
CHERRETT, J.M., 1989.- Leaf-cutting ants. Pp. 473-486 in Lieth, H. & Werger M. J. A. (eds). Ecosystems of the world. Elsevier. Amsterdam-Oxford-New York.
CHERRETT, J.M., 1972.- Some factors involved in the selection of vegetable substrate by Atta cephalotes (L.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Tropical Rain Forest. Journal of Animal Ecology, 41 (3): 647-660.
COLEY, P.D., 1983.- Herbivory and defensive characteristics of tree species in a lowland Tropical Forest. Ecological Monographs, 53 (2): 209-234.
CORNELISSEN, J., LAVOREL, S., GARNIER, E., DÍAZ, S., BUCHMANN, N., GURVICH, D., REICH, P., TERSTEEGE, H.,
MORGAN, H., VAN DER HEIJDEN, M., PAUSAS, J.G. & H. POORTER., 2003.- A handbook of protocols for standardized and easy measurement of plant functional traits worldwide. Australian Journal of Botany, 51: 335-380.
CORPORACIÓN AUTÓNOMA DEL CAUCA CRC., 2009.- Diagnóstico biofísico Patía. http://www.crc.gov.co/files/
ConocimientoAmbiental/POT/patia/DIAGNOSTICO%20BIOFISICO%20PATIA.pdf CORPORACIÓN AUTÓNOMA REGIONAL DEL VALLE DEL CAUCA, CVC. Plan de acción trienal 2007-2009. Santiago de Cali, Colombia.
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ESCOBAR, R., NEITA, M. J.C. & MENA, G.G., 2001.- Caracterización de colonias de hormiga arriera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Attini) en cuatro municipios del departamento del Chocó. Revista Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó, 14: 13-19.
FARJI-BRENER, A.G., 2001.- Why are leaf-cutting ants more common in early secondary forests than in old-growth tropical forests? An evaluation of the palatable forage hypothesis. Oikos, 92: 169-177.
FERNÁNDEZ, F., CASTRO-HUERTAS, V. & SERNA, F., 2015.- Hormigas cortadoras de hojas de Colombia: Acromyrmex y Atta. Fauna de Colombia, Monografía No.5, Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá D.C; Colombia.
FORTI, L.C., SILVEIRA NETO, S. & PEREIRA-DA-SILVA, V., 1984.- Atividade forrageira de Atta sexdens rubropilosa Forel, 1908 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): fluxo e velocidade dos indivíduos na trilha, caracterização dos indivíduos forrageiros e duração e número de jornadas de coleta de vegetais. Revista Entomológica do Brasil, 28 (3): 275-284.
GAMBOA, J.H., 2015.- Lluvia de semillas en un fragmento de bosque seco tropical del Patía (Cauca): Tesis, Universidad del Cauca, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Naturales y de la Educación, Popayán.
GENTRY, A.H., 1995.- Patterns of diversity and floristic composition in Neotropical montane forest. Pages 103-126. En: CHURCHILL, S.P., H. BALSLEV, E. FORERO & J.L. LUTEYN (eds.), Biodiversity and Conservation of Neotropical Montane Forest. The New York Botanical Garden, Nueva York.
HOLDRIDGE, L., 1978.- Ecología basada en zonas de vida. Instituto Interamericano de Ciencias Agrarias, San José, Costa Rica. 206.
HÖLLDOBLER, B. & WILSON, E.O., 1990.- The ants. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, EE.UU.
HÖLLDOBLER, B. & WILSON, E.O., 2011.- The leafcutter ants: Civilization by instinct. W. W. Norton & Co. Ltd.
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIÓN DE RECURSOS BIOLÓGICOS ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT (IAvH)., 1997.-
Bosque seco tropical. Informe nacional sobre el estado de la biodiversidad., 1: 56-71.
JANZEN, D.H., 1988.- Management of habitat fragments in a tropical dry forest: Growth. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden., 75: 105-116.
LUGO, A., FARNWORTH, E., POOL, D., JEREZ, P. & KAUFMAN, G., 1973.- The impact of the leaf – cutter ant Atta colombica on the energy flow of a Tropical West Forest. Ecology, 54 (6): 1292-1300.
MAASS, J., BALVANERA, P., CASTILLO, A., DAILY, G., MOONEY, H., EHRLICH, P., QUESADA, M., MIRANDA, A.,
JARAMILLO, V., GARCÍA-OLIVA, F., MARTÍNEZ-YRIZAR, A., COTLER, H., LÓPEZ-BLANCO, J., PÉREZ-JIMÉNEZ, A., BÚRQUEZ, A., TINOCO, C., CEBALLOS, G., BARRAZA, L., AYALA, R. & SARUKHÁN, J., 2005.- Ecosystem services
of tropical dry forests: Insights from long-term ecological and social research on the pacific coast of Mexico. Ecology and Society, 10 (1): 1-17.
MACKAY, W. & MACKAY, E., 1986.- Las hormigas de Colombia: arrieras del género Atta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Revista Colombiana de Entomología, 12 (1): 23-30.
MEYER, S; LEAL, I. R & WIRTH, R., 2009.- Persisting hyper-abundance of leaf-cutting ants (Atta spp.) at the edge of an old Atlantic Forest fragment. Biotropica, 41 (6): 711-716.
MONTOYA-LERMA, J.; CHACÓN, P. & MANZANO, M., 2006.- Caracterización de nidos de la hormiga arriera Atta cephalotes (Hymenoptera: Myrmicinae) en Cali (Colombia). Revista Colombiana de Entomología, 32 (2): 151-158.
MONTOYA-LERMA, J., GIRALDO-ECHEVERRI, C., ARMBRECHT, I., FARJI-BRENER, A. & CALLEB, Z., 2012.- Leafcutting ants revisited: Towards rational management and control. International Journal of Pest Management, 58 (3): 225-247.
PARRA, G. & ADARVE, J., 2001.- Aspectos ecológicos de las comunidades vegetales del Parque Natural Regional El Vínculo.Cespedesia, 24 (75-78): 39-68.
PIZANO, C. & GARCÍA, H., 2014.- El bosque seco tropical en Colombia. Ediprint Ltda. Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt (IAvH). Bogotá, D.C; Colombia.
QUANTUM GIS DEVELOPMENT TEAM., 2016.- QGIS Geographic Information System. Open Source Geospatial Foundation Project. http://www.qgis.org/
RAMOS, V.M., FORTI, L. M., ANDRADE, A.P., NORONHA, N. & CAMARGO, R., 2008.-Density and spatial distribution
of Atta sexdens rubropilosa and Atta laevigata colonies (Hym., Formicidae) in Eucalyptus spp. forests. Sociobiology, 5 (3): 1-7.
ROCKWOOD, L.L.,1973.- Distribution, density, and dispersion of two species of Atta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Guanacaste province, Costa Rica. Journal of Animal Ecology, 42: 803-817.
R DEVELOPMENT CORE TEAM., 2005. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing, R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.Rproject.org
SÁNCHEZ, J.A. & URCUQUI, A.M., 2006.- Distancias de forrajeo de Atta cephalotes (L) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) en el bosque seco tropical del jardín botánico de Cali. Boletín del Museo de Entomología de la Universidad de del Valle. 7 (1): 1-9.
SCHNEIDER, C.A., RASBAND, W.S. & ELICEIRI, Y.K.W., 2012.- NIH Image to ImageJ: 25 years of image analysis. Nature Methods, 9: 671-675
SCHULTZ, T.R. & BRADY, S.G., 2008.- Major evolutionary transitions in ant agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105 (14): 5435-5440.
SILVA, P.S.D., BIEBER, A.G.D., LEAL, I.R., WIRTH, R. & TABARELLI, M., 2009.-Decreasing abundance of leaf-cutting ants across a chronosequence of advancing Atlantic Forest regeneration. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 25: 223-227.
SILVA-PINHATI, A.C.O., BACCI, M. Jr., SIQUEIRA, C.G., SILVA, A., PAGNOCCA, F.C., BUENO, O.C. & HEBLING, M.J.A., 2005.- Isolation and maintenance of symbiotic fungi of ants in the tribe Attini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Neotropical Entomology, 34 (1): 001-005.
SOSA-CALVO, J., SCHULTZ, T.R., BRAND, C.R.F., KLINGENBERG, C., FEITOSA, R.M., RABELING, C., BACCI, M.Jr., LOPES, C.T. & VASCONCELOS, H.L., 2013.- Cyatta abscondita: Taxonomy, evolution, and natural history of a new fungusfarming ant genus from Brazil. PLoS ONE, 8 11: e80498.
TABARELLI, M., AGUIAR, A.V., RIBEIRO, M.C., METZGER, J.P. & PERES, C.A., 2010.- Prospects for biodiversity conservation in the Atlantic Forest: lessons from aging human-modified landscapes. Biological Conservation, 43: 2328–2340.
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