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Effects of management intensity on ant diversity in cocoa plantation (Oume, centre west Côte d’Ivoire)

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Abstract

Anthropogenic habitat modifications, including conversion of forest to agricultural production cause losses of native species. In this study we examined the losses suffered by ant communities in relation to the intensity of management in cocoa plantations established in former tropical forest. An extensive sampling protocol consisting of pitfall trapping, leaf litter sampling, soil sampling and hand sampling was used to characterize ant species richness and composition in the native forest and compare it with three cocoa farms differing in their management intensity. Species richness was negatively correlated with management intensity and differed greatly between management practices and the forest. Two subfamilies (Myrmicinae and Amblyoponinae) showed a significant negative correlation with agricultural intensification probably because their species are constrained to living in forest like habitat. The species composition differed greatly between management practices and the forest. Intensively and moderately managed cocoa plantations were most dissimilar to the forest. In contrast, forest ants were well represented in the least intensively managed plantation. Overall, the findings of this study show that only slightly managed cocoa plantations sustain an ant diversity that comes close to that of the forest. This also holds true for cocoa plantations on former agricultural, and thus previously heavily used, land. The findings may help in the conservation of biodiversity as management practices most likely to sustain forest like ant communities have been identified.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank all the farmers in Oumé region who provided access to their fields for this study and to Mr Firmin, Eric and Arnaud for their assistance in the field. This work was founded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), through the BIOTAWest project (FZ 01LC0617A2).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité de Formation et de Recherches en Sciences Biologiques, Université Péléforo Gon Goulibaly, Korhogo, Ivory Coast

    Mouhamadou Kone

  2. Station d’Écologie de Lamto, Université Nangui Abrogoua, Abidjan, Ivory Coast

    Mouhamadou Kone, Souleymane Konate & Kolo Yeo

  3. Unité de Formation et de Recherches en Biosciences, Université Félix Houphouët Boigny, Abidjan, Ivory Coast

    Philippe Kouassi Kouassi

  4. Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    K. Eduard Linsenmair

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  1. Mouhamadou Kone
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Kone, M., Konate, S., Yeo, K. et al. Effects of management intensity on ant diversity in cocoa plantation (Oume, centre west Côte d’Ivoire). J Insect Conserv 18, 701–712 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-014-9679-8

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