A system is proposed whereby ant functional groups are used as structural attributes to classify ninety-four Australian ant communities in a manner analogous to the classification of vegetation according to predominant lifeforms. In terms of their responses to stress and disturbance, Dominant Dolichoderinae (DD) are considered analogous to trees, functionally subdominant Generalized Myrmicinae (GM) to shrubs and ruderal Opportunists (OPP) to grasses. Community types DDO (twenty-two sites), DD1 (twenty-two sites), DD2 (eight sites), DD3 (thirty-nine sites) and DD4 (three sites), respectively, are defined as having the relative abundance of Dominant Dolichoderinae 90%. They are structurally analogous to treeless plant communities, open woodlands, woodlands, forests and plantations, respectively. DDO communities are classified as DDOGM (analogous to shrublands) when Generalized Myrmicinae predominate, DDOOPP (analogous to grasslands) when Opportunists predominate and DDOCS (analogous to cold-adapted heathlands) when neither functional group is abundant. Similarly, the relative abundances of Generalized Myrmicinae and Opportunists are used to classify DD1-3 communities in a manner analogous to the classification of woodlands and open forests according to understorey type. DD30PP communities, for example, where the relative abundance of Dominant Dolichoderinae is 30-70% and Opportunists are predominant among remaining ants, are structurally analogous to grassy forests. The distribution of ant functional groups is considered in relation to stress and disturbance by adopting Grime's (1979) triangular ordination concepts and nomenclature, with ant community structural types being analysed in terms of the relative importance of competition, stress and disturbance as factors regulating community structure. DD0 and DD1 structural types are stress-tolerant, or ruderal, communities; DD2 and DD3 types are competitive communities when Generalized Myrmicinae are abundant, and competitive ruderal or competitive stress-tolerant ruderal when Opportunists are predominant among non-dolichoderines; and DD4 communities are competitive ruderal. In temperate regions, seasonal changes in ant community structure parallel those occurring along biogeographical gradients spanning comparable temperature regimes. A positive relationship was found between the abundance of functionally dominant ants (DD + GM) and species richness. Plant and ant communities often differ from each other in their responses to the same stress or disturbance, such that there is often a poor correspondence between ant and plant community structural type at any particular site.

A classification of Australian ant communities, based on functional groups which parallel plant life-forms in relation to stress and disturbance.

The review examines the literature concerning the effects on soil profile development of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and termites (Isoptera), two prominent insect groups in the Australian environment. Their pedological influence is largely through the construction of nests, galleries, soil sheetings and mounds. Some of the pedological effects are manifested in the physical modification of the soil profile through selecting, transporting and rearranging soil particles. Within this group, findings in areas such as soil turnover, mound longevity, bioturbation, soil structure and water infiltration are discussed. Termites contribute actively to soil turnover, and the contribution of termite sheetings and ant mounds to soil turnover is also being recognized. Termite mounds may persist in the landscape for more than two decades, while ant mound longevity varies from weeks to decades. Information on the effects of ants and termites on soil structure and water infiltration is sparse; but ants and termites seem to either increase infiltration by improving soil structure and porosity, or to decrease infiltration by producing compact surfaces which assist runoff and erosion. Other effects involve the chemical alteration of the soil profile by ants and termites collecting and transporting live and dead animal and plant materials to their nest structures, and by the additions of secretions and excreta in nest construction. The majority of ants and termites probably increase carbon and nutrient levels, especially nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, as well as exchangeable magnesium and calcium. The extent of the increases depends greatly on the type of mound construction and the degree to which organic material is incorporated. Problems with research techniques include the use of a variety of sampling techniques by different researchers, lack of detailed soil description or classification, and inadequate description of location of sampling points. These deficiencies make it difficult to draw valid comparisons between research projects. Many researchers also base their generalizations on ant or termite soil modifications on a small number of samples, although during the 1980s there has been an increase in sample sizes. Contradictory data often result from projects being undertaken on different species and in different environments. Future research directions need to include a greater concentration on the morphology of ant nests, more detailed assessment of the influence of ants and termites on soil structure and water infiltration, an increase in biopedological research in human-modified environments, a greater emphasis on termites and ants other than the most dominant or prominent species, and a focus on community as distinct from single-species effects.

The role of termites and ants in soil modification - a review

integrated groups. Therefore, a great challenge in the socioecology of foraging is to explain how the behavior of such a potentially large and complex system as an ant colony emerges as a function of the properties of its individual components. The task of studying foraging in ants in simplified by the fact that foragers, owing to their sterility, may do little more than forage during their tenure as food harvesters. However, eusociality penetrates virtually every facet of foraging strategy and adds additional complicating social dimensions to its analysis. Individual and social processes of foraging can be categorized into com­ ponents to facilitate the analysis of foraging at the level of the single worker, the colony, or the integration of both (Table 1). A generalized ethogram of forager behavior can be described to illustrate these processes. A forager leaves the nest entrance in either a random or a consistent direction. A travel phase ensues, during which the worker maintains a constant compass bearing and moves directly away from the nest. At some point during the travel phase the forager shows a high frequency of turning, marking the beginning of search. During search, food resources are encountered and selected based upon a forager's physical caste, age, and prior experience, the trip distance, thermal stress, resource quality, and the colony's current nutritional status. Depending on the ant species and the size, density, or quality of the food, the forager may communicate information to nestmates about its location and recruit additional foragers. Summing the above-described individual

Foraging Strategies of Ants

Mediterranean-type ecosystems have provided ecologists with some of the most scientifically-rewarding opportunities to formulate and evaluate hypotheses about large and small-scale ecological phenomena. Comparison of mediterranean-type climate ecosystems in different parts of the world has not only permitted a strong test for ecological convergence, but also critical understanding of key ecophysiological and population processes.

/pdf/ecology-and-biogeography-of-mediterranean-ecosystems-in-c4q0retg7w.pdf

Ecology and biogeography of mediterranean ecosystems in Chile, California, and Australia

1. Ants are known to compete in transitive hierarchies, where the superior competitors behaviourally exclude subordinate species. Nevertheless, in Mediterranean communities, where environmental factors show important daily and seasonal variations, the limited thermal tolerance of behaviourally dominant species compared with that of subordinates disrupts the expected transitive hierarchies. 2. This thermal tolerance allows a far greater dominance in the ecosystem by subordinate species than might be expected from their relative abundance and fighting abilities. 3. In the studied areas, activity curves of dominants and subordinates did not overlap because the latter were less temperature-limited and active during the day, while the former were more temperature-limited and active during the afternoon and night periods. 4. The lower thermal limitation of subordinate activity not only increased their exploitative ability, but also altered the outcome of interspecific interactions at food resources, i.e. modified the interference hierarchy. 5. These temporal changes in the foraging abundance of species lead to increasing diversity: more competing species may co-exist as a result of changes in the environment that periodically reverse the order of competitive prevalence among the species.

Thermal disruption of transitive hierarchies in Mediterranean ant communities

The activity of five seed-harvesting and ten non-harvesting species of ants was examined over a 2-year period. The ant community appeared to be stable in the long term, but there was considerable variability in the numbers and species of ants active at any one time, both on a seasonal and diel basis. Only four species were active throughout the year, with activity reduced in winter. Two species were consistently nocturnal, nine were mainly diurnal, and the remaining four species switched from diurnal to more nocturnal activity with increasing temperatures.



The changes in the diurnal pattern and intensity of foraging activity were shown to be controlled by several climatic and biotic variables. These were classed as either ‘stimulatory-inhibitory’ which determined whether activity would occur or not, or ‘regulatory’, which set the physical limits to activity and controlled foraging intensity. Factors such as forage availability and colony satiation were placed in the first category, and soil temperature, moisture stress and light intensity were placed in the second.



There was no simple response to the combination of variables, and individual species responded differently to the various factors. The resulting temporal separation probably reduces competitive interactions between species.

Physical structure of an ant community in semi‐arid Australia

The trophic structure of an ant community near Deniliquin, in south western New South Wales, was found to be complex. Individual species covered a range of trophic levels and, apart from a few specialized predators, most species showed a broad diet. A total of twenty-seven species were placed in six different categories, according to food usage patterns:- specialist predators (2 spp.), generalist predators (1 sp.), predatorscavengers (4 spp.), omnivore-nectar collectors (10 spp.), omnivore-seed collectors (5 spp.) and seed harvesters (5 spp.). Almost 50% of ant colonies were of the five seed-harvester species and their food usage was examined more closely. They showed marked seasonal changes in composition of diet, corresponding closely to periods of seed production by different food plants. There were also differences in seed selection between species, and these were related to the size, phenology and probably chemical properties of the seed. Foraging behaviour by the various species showed differing adaptations to efficient utilization of a variable food supply.

Food collection within an ant community in semi-arid Australia, with special reference to seed harvesters

Resource partitioning among five species of seed-harvesting ants in a semi-arid saltbush and adjacent grassland habitat of southwestern New South Wales is analysed. While habitat differences between species were only slight, the utilization of two resource dimensions, food type and time available for activity by them, varied markedly in response to environmental changes. The degree to which species overlapped in their use of these resources also fluctuated as conditions varied. Thus, both the manner and extent to which the harvester ant species interact is rapidly and continually changing in response to environmental fluctuations. The results suggest that, at most times, there is very little pressure due to exploitative competition within the harvester ant community.

Partitioning of resources amongst seed‐harvesters in an ant community in semi‐arid Australia

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Physical structure of an ant community in semi‐arid Australia

Food collection within an ant community in semi-arid Australia, with special reference to seed harvesters

Partitioning of resources amongst seed‐harvesters in an ant community in semi‐arid Australia