Composition and inter-species relationships within ant communities across differentially anthropized urban environments: a case study

With urbanisation increasing globally, conservation ecologists need to characterise the functioning of ecosystems embedded in urban landscapes. Ubiquitous and hyperdiverse, ants are an ideal model taxon for this purpose. Here we compared the diversity, richness, and abundance of ants in a forest fragment and a green urban area within the City of Sao Paulo, characterising relationships among ant species. We found higher species abundance and richness in the urban area, whereas diversity was greater in the secondary forest fragment. Transect sampling revealed higher heterogeneity in the more urban area, with a number of species not found in the secondary forest. Bait sampling suggested that, in the urban area, the dominance of one or a few species was stronger than in the secondary forest, possibly because the dominant species outnumbered other species at resources and behaved aggressively. We found that a limited number of species dominated in both the forest and the urban area. Although this study only relies on a limited sample size taken in relatively narrow geographic and climatic conditions, it suggests that ant community traits in urban environments vary depending on human-related disturbance.

Automated summary

With the increasing urbanization, it is important for conservation ecologists to understand the functioning of ecosystems in urban landscapes. Ants, being ubiquitous and hyperdiverse, are ideal models for studying this. In this study, the diversity, richness, and abundance of ants in a forest fragment and a green urban area in São Paulo were compared. The results showed that the urban area had higher species abundance and richness, while diversity was greater in the secondary forest fragment. The study suggests that ant community traits in urban environments vary depending on human-related disturbance.