Atta mexicana waste dumps are hot spots of soil nutrients in an urban Neotropical cloud forest environment

Abstract

Little is known about the activity of leaf-cutter ants such as Atta mexicana in urban environments. This study evaluated the soil nutrient concentration of A. mexicana nests and waste dumps compared with adjacent soils to the nests as a control in a Neotropical urban environment. The high nutrient concentration values in waste dumps, such as total C (360%), total N (340%), ammonium (900%) and nitrate (270%) higher than those found in the adjacent soils, except for total P, P-Bray and sulphates, indicate that A. mexicana waste dumps may be hot spots of high nutrient concentrations in surface soil of an urban ecosystem.