Ant community in logged and primary forest

Abstract

The impact of the change in environmental factors on ant community was studied in three different forest habitats: five-year old logged forest; ten-year old logged forest and primary forest. Sampling was done for one week in every three-month using pitfall trap. A total of 31,501 formicids comprising 9 subfamilies and 52 morphospecies were collected. Ponerinae and Myrmicinae were the most abundant having 13,989 and 9,635 individuals. The alpha (α) diversity index indicated that primary forest had higher value (4.77) than that of five-year old logged (4.15) and ten-year old logged forest (4.01). There was a 57% species similarity between primary forest and 5-year old logged forest, 49% between 10-year old logged and primary forest, and 38% between 5-year old and 10-year old logged forest. The possible environmental effects among the forest habitats on the ant abundance were discussed. © 2006 Asian Network for Scientific Information.