Abstract
Urbanization is one of the most lasting anthropogenic disturbances threatening native species diversity including ants. Ants play important ecological functions such as seed dispersal, biological pest control, and bio-indicators of environmental changes. Herein, we investigated and tracked ant communities in three sites (rural, suburban and urban) in 2007 and resampled the same categories ten years after, using the same methods. A total of 39 species belonging to 7 subfamilies and 19 genera was recorded during the two sampling periods. During the 10-year study period, ant species richness declined in sites that were rural in 2007, but suburban in 2017. However, ant species richness increased between 2007 and 2017 in sites that were suburban and urban in 2007, and urban sites in 2017. In contrast, ant abundance increased significantly within all sites over time. Six tramp species were found in different sites with Wasmannia auropunctata and Pheidole megacephala being the most common species between 2007 and 2017 respectively. Tramp species represented more than a half of all ant fauna at each sampling period and their abundance increased by 55% between 2007 and 2017. These results indicate changes in ant community composition and highlight explosion of some tramp species with urbanization over longer temporal scales. This study also demonstrates that the rapid transformation of suburban and rural areas into built environments leads to the replacement of native species by disturbance specialists in urbanized areas over time. The suburban peak in species numbers suggests that edge effects may influence the diversity and composition of ant species along urbanization gradients. Further research is needed to understand the ecological processes shaping the ant community in areas with intermediate levels of disturbance.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of data and material
Data is available in Microsoft excel format and may be sent to editor at any time.
References
Achoundong G (1996) Les forêts sommitales au Cameroun - végétation et flore des colines de Yaoundé. Bois for Trop 237:17–52
Adams LW (1994) Urban Wildlife Habitats. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
Alonso LE (2000) Ants as indicators of diversity. In: Agosti D, Majer J, Alonso L, Schultz TR (eds) Ants: standard methods for measuring and monitoring biodiversity. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, pp 80–88
Beattie AJ (1985) The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant-Plant Mutualisms. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Blair RB, Launer AE (1997) Butterfly diversity and human land use: Species assemblages along an urban gradient. Biol Conserv 80:113–125
Blair RB (2001) Birds and butterflies along urban gradients in two ecoregions of the U.S. In: Lockwood JL, McKinney ML (eds) Biotic Homogenization. Kluwer, Norwell (MA), pp 33–56
Blüthgen N, Feldhaar H (2009) Food and Shelter: resources influence ant ecology. In: Lach L, Parr CL, Abbott KL (eds) Ant ecology. Oxford University Press, London, pp 115–136
Bolton B (1994) Identification guide to the ant genera of the world. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Buczkowski G, Richmond DS (2012) The Effect of Urbanization on Ant Abundance and Diversity: A Temporal Examination of Factors Affecting Biodiversity. PLoS One 7(8):e41729. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0041729
Carpintero S, Reyes-Lopez J, de Reyna LA (2003) Impact of human dwellings on the distribution of the exotic Argentine ant: a case study in the Donana National Park, Spain. Biol Conserv 115:279–289
Carpintero S, Reyes-López J, de Reyna LA (2004) Impact of human dwellings on the distribution of the exotic Argentine ant: a case study in the Doñana National Park, Spain. Biol Conserv 115:279–289
Chen X, Adams B, Bergeron C, Sabo A, Hooper-Bui L (2015) Ant community structure and response to disturbances on coastal dunes of Gulf of Mexico. J Insect Conserv 19:1–13
Colwell RK, Chao A, Gotelli NJ, Lin SY, Mao CX, Chazdon RL, Longino JT (2012) Models and estimators linking individualbased and sample-based rarefaction, extrapolation and comparison of assemblages. J Plant Ecol 5:3–21
Concepción ED, Moretti M, Altermatt F, Nobis MP, Obrist MK (2015) Impacts of urbanisation on biodiversity. The role of species mobility, degree of specialisation and spatial scale. Oikos 124:1571–1582
Czech B, Krausman PR, Devers PK (2000) Economic associations among causes of species endangerment in the United States. BioScience 50:593–601
Dejean A, Djiéto-Lordon C, Orivel J (2008) The plant ant Tetraponera aethiops (pseudomyrmecinae) protects its host myrmecophyte Barteria fistulosa (Passifloraceae) through aggressiveness and predation. Biol J Linn Soc 93:63–69
Djiéto-Lordon C, Dejean A, Ring RA, Nkongmeneck BA, Lauga J, McKey D (2005) Ecology of an Improbable Association: The Pseudomyrmecinae Plant-ant Tetraponera tessmanni and the Myrmecophytic Liana Vitex thyrsiflora (Lamiaceae) in Cameroon 1. Biotropica 37:421–430
Dickman CR (1987) Habitat fragmentation and vertebrate species richness in an urban environment. J Appl Ecol 24:337–351
Dunn RR (2004) Managing the tropical landscape: a comparison of the effects of logging and forest conversion to agriculture on ants, birds and Lepidoptera. Forest Ecol Manag 191:215–224
Falk JH (1976) Energetics of a suburban lawn ecosystem. Ecology 57:141–150
Fisher BL (2002) Ant diversity patterns along an elevational gradient in the Reserve Speciale de Manongarivo, Madagascar. Boissiera 59:311–328
Fisher BL (2004) Diversity patterns of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) along an elevational gradient on Monts Doudou in southwestern Gabon. Calif Acad Sci 28:269–286
Forys EA, Allen CR, Wojcik DP (2002) Distribution of the red imported fire ant in the Lower Florida Keys: effects of human development and roads and spatial overlap with vulnerable rare species. Biol Conserv 108:27–33
Germaine SS, Wakeling BF (2001) Lizard species distributors and habitat occupation along an urban gradient in Tucson, Arizona, USA. Biol Conservat 97:229–237
Gibb H, Hochuli DF (2003) Colonisation by a dominant ant facilitated by anthropogenic disturbance: effects on an ant assemblage composition, biomass and resource use. Oikos 103:469–478
Gippet JMW, Mondy N, Diallo-Dudek J, Bellec A, dumet A, Mistler L, Kaufmann B (2017) I’m not like everybody else: urbanization factors shaping spatial distribution of native and invasives ants are species-specific. Urban Ecosyst 20:157–169
Gotelli NJ, Ellison AM (2002) Assembly rules for New England ant assemblages. Oikos 99:591–599
Grimaldi D, Engel MS (2005) Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Hoffmann BD, Andersen AN (2003) Responses of ants to disturbance in Australia, with particular reference to functional groups. Austral Ecol 28:444–464
Holldobler B, Wilson EO (1977) The number of queens: an important trait in ant evolution. Naturwissenschaften 64:8–15
Holldobler B, Wilson EO (1990) The ants. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Holway DA, Lach L, Suarez AV, Tsutui ND, Case T (2002) The Causes and Consequences of Ant Invasions. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 33:181–233
Holway DA, Suarez AV (2006) Homogenization of ant communities in Mediterranean California: the effects of urbanization and invasion. Biol Conserv 127:319–326
Janzen DH (1972) Protection of Barteria (Passifloraceae) by Pachysima ants (Pseudomyrmecinae) in a Nigerian rain forest. Ecology 53:885–892
Jolivet P (1996) Ants and Plants: An Example of Coevolution, enlarged. Backhuys, Leiden, Netherlands
Kitazawa T (1986) Recovery process of a disturbed soil animal community in Kitakyushu, Japan. J UOEH 8:19–26
Kowarik I (1995) On the role of alien species in urban flora and vegetation. In: Pyšek P, Prach K, Rejmánek M, Wade M (eds) Plant invasions-general aspects and special problems. SPB Academic Publishing, Amsterdam, pp 85–103
Lessard JP, Buddle CM (2005) The effects of urbanization on ant assemblages (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) associated with the Moison Nature Reserve, Quebec. Can Entomol 137:215–225
Lodge DM, Shrader-Frechette K (2003) Nonindigenous Species: Ecological Explanation, Environmental Ethics, and Public Policy. Conserv Biol 17:31–37
Lowe S, Browne M, Boudjelas S (2000) 100 of the world’s worst invasive alien species. Aliens 12 S:1–12
Mack RN, Simberloff D, Lonsdale WM, Evans H, Clout M, Bazzaz FA (2000) Biotic invasions: causes, epidemiology, global consequences, and control. Ecol Appl 10:689–710.
Madiapevo SN, Makemteu J, Noumi E (2017) Plant woody diversity of the highest summit forest (1156 M) in the Kala Massif, Western Yaoundé. Int J Curr Res Biosci Plant Biol 4:1–30
Magura T, Lövei G, Bela T (2008) Time-consistent rearrangement of carabid beetle assemblages by an urbanisation gradient in Hungary. Acta Oecol 34:233–243
Magurran AE (2004) Measuring biological diversity. Blackwell Publishing, Madlen, Massachusetts
Majer JD, Day JE, Kabay ED, Perriman WS (1984) Recolonization by ants in bauxite mines rehabilitated by a number of different methods. J Appl Ecol 21:355–375
Mbenoun Masse PS, Tindo M, Djiéto-Lordon C, Mony R, Kenne M (2019) Diversity of ant assemblages (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in an urban environment in Cameroon during and after colonization of the area by Wasmannia auropunctata. Eur J Entomol 116:461–467
Mbenoun Masse PS, Tindo M, Kenne M, Tadu Z, Mony R, Djiéto-Lordon C (2017) Impact of the invasive ant Wasmannia auropunctata (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) on ant diversity in southern Cameroon. Afr J Ecol 55:423–432
McGlynn TP (1999) Non-native Ants are Smaller than related Native Ants. Am Nat 154:690–699
McIntyre NE, Hostetler ME (2001) Effects of urban land use on pollinator (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) communities in a desert metropolis. Basic Appl Ecol 2:209–218
McKinney ML (2002) Urbanization, biodiversity and conservation. Bioscience 52:883–890
McKinney ML (2008) Effects of urbanization on species richness: A review of plants and animals. Urban Ecosyst 11:161–176
Menke SB, Guenard B, Sexton JO, Weiser MD, Dunn RR, Silverman J (2011) Urban areas may serve as habitat and corridors for dry-adapted, heat tolerant species; an example from ants. Urban Ecosyst 14:135–163
Nkwemoh CA, Tchindjang M, Afungang RN (2017) The impact of urbanization on the vegetation of Yaounde, (Cameroon). Int J Innov Res Dev 6:6–18
Nuhn TP, Wright CG (1979) An ecological survey of ants in a landscaped suburban habitat. Am Midl Nat 102:353–362
Passera L (1994) Characteristics of tramp species. In: Williams DF (ed) Exotic ants: Biology, impact, and control of introduced species. Westview Press, Boulder, CO, pp 23–43.
Perfecto I, Armbrecht I, Philpott SM, Soto-Pinto L, Dietsch TV (2007) Shaded coffee and the stability of rainforest margins in Latin America. In: Tscharntke T, Leuschner C, Zelle M, Guhadja E, Bidin A (eds) The Stability of Tropical Rainforest Margins: linking ecological, economic and social constraints of land use and conservation. Springer Verlag, Berlin, pp 227–263
Philpott SM, Perfecto I, Armbrecht I, Parr P (2009) Ant diversity and function in disturbed and changing habitats. In: Abbott KL (ed) Lach L, Parr Cl. Ant ecology. Oxford University Press, London, pp 137–156
Ramirez M, Armbrecht I, Montoya J (2007) Fodder banks as modifiers of arthropod diversity in agricultural landscapes. In Leterme P, Mugueitio E, Buldgeen A (eds) Sustainable Pig Production Systems in the Tropics, Based on Tree Foliage. CIPAV: Centre for Research on Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems, Faculté de Sciences Agronomiques de Gembloux, pp 139–63
Rango JJ (2005) Arthropod communities on creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) in desert patches of varying degrees of urbanization. Biodivers Conserv 14:2185–2206
Sanders NJ, Gotelli NJ, Heller NE, Gordon DM (2003) Community disassembly by an invasive species. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:2474–2477
Schulz A, Wagner T (2002) Influence of forest type and tree species on canopy ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Budongo Forest, Uganda. Oecologia 133:224–232
Suarez AV, Bolger DT, Case TJ (1998) Effect of fragmentation and invasion on native ant communities in coastal Southern California. Ecology 79:2041–2056
Taylor B (2011) Ant of Africa. Available from: http://www.antbase.org/ants/africa/antcover.htm (Accessed 20 Sept 2020)
Tindo M, Mbenoun Masse PS, Kenne M et al (2012) Current distribution and population dynamics of the little fire ant supercolony in Cameroon. Insectes Soc 59:175–182
United Nations (2017) World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision, Volume I: Comprehensive Tables (ST/ESA/SER.A/399).
Uno S, Cotton J, Philpott SM (2010) Diversity, abundance, and species composition of ants in urban green spaces. Urban Ecosyst 13:425–441
Van Nuland ME, Whitlow WL (2014) Temporal effects on biodiversity and composition of arthropod communities along an urban-rural gradient. Urban Ecosyst 17:1047–1060
Vonshak M, Gordon DM (2015) Intermediate disturbance promotes invasive ant abundance. Biol Conserv 186:359–367
Wauters N, Dekoninck W, Hendrickx F, Herrera HW, Fournier D (2015) Habitat association and coexistence of endemic and introduced ant species in the Galapagos Islands. Ecol Ent. https://doi.org/10.1111/een.12256
Whitney GG (1985) A quantitative analysis of the flora and plant communities of a representative midwestern U.S. town. Urban Ecol 9:143–160
Yamaguchi T (2004) Influence of urbanization on ant distribution in parks of Tokyo and Chiba City, Japan I. Analysis of ant species richness. Ecol Res 19:209–216
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Fatcheu Clinton for english language editing and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments on the manuscript
Funding
No funds, grants, or other support was received.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed equally from the conception of protocol design to the drafting of this paper.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Consent for publication
All authors have approved the manuscript and agree with its publication in urban Ecosystems.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mbenoun Masse, P.S., Tindo, M., Djiéto-Lordon, C. et al. Temporal variation in ant community assemblages along a rural–urban gradient in the Yaoundé metropolis, Cameroon. Urban Ecosyst 25, 193–204 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-021-01143-1
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-021-01143-1