You are here
Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2007
- Title: Ant Assemblages in the Har (Mt.) Meron Nature Reserve in Israel
- Author: Sonny S Bleicher (Rochester Institute of Technology)
- Abstract:
Land management affects the general ecology in a biome, and ants can be used as indicator species for these changes. Human induced land management regimes, including grazing and removal of woody species, hasten the desertification process, a problem threatening much of Israel’s landmass. Ants are one of genera of groups proposed as part of a study within the “LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) Israel” research project studying the effects of grazing and woody species removal on the general ecology along a rainfall gradient. Efficiency of multiple trapping methods (such as baiting and manual active collection) were assessed in terms of the diversity of species caught. Use of multiple trapping methods was shown to be statistically significant (using rarefaction). The changes in species diversity under different land management regimes were also tested. Species diversity was significantly different in relation to the different land managements, suggesting that ants can be used as indicator species, and therefore would be a good group to continue surveying. These findings can be used for fine-tuning the performance in the continuation of this long-term assessment. This data is given on partial results, and as such the results might vary by the end of the assessment.
- Research Category: Biodiversity Studies; Conservation and Management; International Research Projects
- Figures: C:Documents and SettingsPafufnik JuniorDesktopmeron.JPG
C:Documents and SettingsPafufnik JuniorMy DocumentsMy Pictures2007-07 (Jul)ants for presentation.JPG
