Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Can reforested and plantation habitats effectively conserve SW China’s ant biodiversity?

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biodiversity and Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

China has a long history of deforestation and environmental degradation. Because China is also lacking biological reserves, off-reserve conservation is a major contributor to its conservation efforts. Off-reserve conservation in China is primarily being achieved within afforestation and low-intensity agriculture. We compare ant diversity of three habitats: Natural Forest, Disturbed Forest and Plantation, to assess the conservation potential of these multiple land uses. Natural Forest consistently had the greatest plot-level species richness of the three habitats, but this pattern was only statistically significant for arboreal ants. Functional group profiles showed that Specialist Predators were significantly more represented in Disturbed Forest, Opportunists were significantly more represented in one Plantation site, coupled with a lack of Subordinate Camponotini, and Generalised Myrmicinae were more represented in a second Plantation site coupled with a complete lack of Cryptic Species. Multivariate analysis revealed significant differences of ant species composition between habitats. Within IndVal analyses, 17 species were associated with Natural Forest and nine with Plantation. No species were associated with Disturbed Forest. Reforestation and low-intensity agriculture clearly provide habitat for many species, but will not necessarily substitute for undisturbed habitat for many other species, especially specialised species. China’s off-reserve conservation could be enhanced by developing a greater understanding of agricultural practices and reforestation techniques that promote species diversity, especially for uncommon, threatened and specialised species.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andersen AN (1990) The use of ant communities to evaluate change in Australian terrestrial ecosystems: a review and a recipe. In: Proceedings of the ecological society of Australia, pp 347–357

  • Andersen AN (1995) A classification of Australian ant communities, based on functional-groups which parallel plant life-forms in relation to stress and disturbance. J Biogeogr 22(1):15–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen AN, Majer JD (2004) Ants show the way Down Under: invertebrates as bioindicators in land management. Front Ecol Environ 2(6):291–298

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen AN, Cook GD, Corbett LK, Douglas MM, Eager RW, Russell-Smith J, Setterfield SA, Williams RJ, Woinarski JCZ (2005) Fire frequency and biodiversity conservation in Australian tropical savannas: implications from the Kapalga fire experiment. Austral Ecol 30:155–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asfiya W, Lach L, Majer JD, Heterick B, Didham RK (2015) Intensive agroforestry practices negatively affect ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) diversity and composition in southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Asian Myrmecol 7:87–104

    Google Scholar 

  • Bestelmeyer BT, Wiens JA (1996) The effects of land use on the structure of ground-foraging ant communities in the Argentine Chaco. Ecol Appl 6:1225–1240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bharti H, Sharma YP, Bharti M, Pfeiffer M (2013) Ant species richness, endemicity and functional groups, along an elevational gradient in the Himalayas. Asian Myrmecol 5:79–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Bihn JH, Gebauer G, Brandl R (2010) Loss of functional diversity of ant assemblages in secondary tropical forests. Ecology 91:782–792

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bloemers GF, Hodda M, Lambshead PJD, Lawton JH, Wanless FR (1997) The effects of forest disturbance on diversity of tropical soil nematodes. Oecologia 111(4):575–582

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brook BW, Sodhi NS, Ng PK (2003) Catastrophic extinctions follow deforestation in Singapore. Nature 424(6947):420–426

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks TM, Mittermeier RA, Mittermeier CG, Da Fonseca GA, Rylands AB, Konstant WR, Flick P, Pilgrim J, Oldfield S, Magin G (2002) Habitat loss and extinction in the hotspots of biodiversity. Conserv Biol 16:909–923

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brühl CA, Eltz T (2010) Fuelling the biodiversity crisis: species loss of ground-dwelling forest ants in oil palm plantations in Sabah, Malaysia (Borneo). Biodivers Conserv 19:519–529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brühl CA, Eltz T, Linsenmair KE (2003) Size does matter—effects of tropical rainforest fragmentation on the leaf litter ant community in Sabah, Malaysia. Biodivers Conserv 12:1371–1389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cabra-García J, Bermúdez-Rivas C, Osorio AM, Chacón P (2012) Cross-taxon congruence of α and β diversity among five leaf litter arthropod groups in Colombia. Biodivers Conserv 21:1493–1508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chao A, Gotelli NJ, Hsieh TC, Sander EL, Ma KH, Colwell RK, Ellison AM (2014) Rarefaction and extrapolation with Hill numbers: a framework for sampling and estimation in species diversity studies. Ecol Monogr 84:45–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chavhan A, Pawar SS (2011) Distribution and diversity of ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in and around Amravati City of Maharashtra, India. World J Zool 6:395–400

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen XF (1996) An exploration on the sustainable development problem of forest resource of China. J Nat Resour 11(4):318–325

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen YQ, Yao WJ (2007) Lac resources and their utilization in the world. World For Res 20:61–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen XM, Chen YQ, Zhang H, Shi L (2008) Lac insect Cultivation and Lac processing. Chinese Forestry Press, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen YQ, Li Q, Chen YL, Wang SM, Zhou XY (2010) Lac production, arthropod biodiversity and abundance, and pesticide use in Yunnan Province, China. Trop Ecol 51:255–263

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen YQ, Lu ZX, Li Q, Hoffmann BD, Zhang W (2014) Multiple ant species tending lac insect Kerria yunnanensis (Hemiptera: Kerriidae) provide asymmetric protection against parasitoids. PLoS One 9(6):e98975. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0098975

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Colwell RK (2005) Estimates: statistical estimation of species richness and shared species from samples. http://viceroy.eeb.uconn.edu/estimates

  • Courchamp F, Dunne JA, Le Maho Y, Mays RM, Thébaud C, Hochbergs ME (2015) Fundamental ecology is fundamental. Trends Ecol Evol 30:9–16

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Crist TO (2009) Biodiversity, species interactions, and functional roles of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in fragmented landscapes: a review. Myrmecol News 12:3–13

    Google Scholar 

  • De Deyn GB, Raaijmakers CE, Zoomer HR, Berg MP, de Ruiter PC, Verhoef HA, Bezemer TM, van der Putten WH (2003) Soil invertebrate fauna enhances grassland succession and diversity. Nature 422(6933):711–713

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Del Toro I, Ribbons RR, Pelini SL (2012) The little things that run the world revisited: a review of ant-mediated ecosystem services and disservices (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecol News 17:133–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Dufrêne M, Legendre P (1997) Species assemblages and indicator species: the need for a flexible asymmetrical approach. Ecol Monogr 67(3):345–366

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunn RR (2004) Managing the tropical landscape: a comparison of the effects of logging and forest conversion to agriculture on ants, birds, and lepidoptera. For Ecol Manag 191:215–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elvin M (2004) The retreat of the elephants. Yale University Press, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Fahrig L, Baudry J, Brotons L, Burel FG, Crist TO, Fuller RJ, Martin JL (2011) Functional landscape heterogeneity and animal biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Ecol Lett 14:101–112

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • FAO (2001) State of the world’s forests. Forestry paper no. 140. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

  • Fayle TM, Bakker L, Cheah C, Ching TM, Davey A, Dem F, Earl A, Huaimei Y, Hyland S, Hohansson B, Ligtermoet E, Lim R, Lin LK, Luangyotha P, Martins BH, Palmeirim AF, Paninguan S, Rojas SK, Sam L, Sam PTT, Suaanto D, Wahyudi A, Walsh J, Weigl S, Craze PG, Jehle R, Metcalfe D, Trevelyan R (2010) A positive relationship between ant biodiversity (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and rate of scavenger-mediated nutrient redistribution along a disturbance gradient in a south-east Asian rain forest. Myrmecol News 14:5–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Folgarait PJ (1998) Ant biodiversity and its relationship to ecosystem functioning: a review. Biodivers Conserv 7:1221–1244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gascon C, Lovejoy TE, Bierregaard RO Jr, Malcolm JR, Stouffer PC, Vasconcelos HL, Laurance WF, Zimmerman B, Tocher M, Borges S (1999) Matrix habitat and species richness in tropical forest remnants. Biol Conserv 91(2):223–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gerlach J, Samways M, Pryke J (2013) Terrestrial invertebrates as bioindicators: an overview of available taxonomic groups. J Insect Conserv 17:831–850

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gómez C, Casellas D, Oliveras J, Bas JM (2003) Structure of ground-foraging ant assemblages in relation to land-use change in the northwestern Mediterranean region. Biodivers Conserv 12:2135–2146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gotelli NJ, Colwell RK (2011) Estimating species richness. In: Magurran AE, McGill BJ (eds) Biological diversity: frontiers in measurement and assessment. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 39–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Gray CL, Lewis OT, Chung AYC, Fayle TM (2015) Riparian reserves within oil palm plantations conserve logged forest leaf litter ant communities and maintain associated scavenging rates. J Appl Ecol 52:31–40

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Gunawardene NR, Majer JD, Edirisinghe JP (2010) Investigating residual effects of selective logging on ant species assemblages in Sinharaja Forest Reserve, Sri Lanka. For Ecol Manag 259(3):555–562

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamer KC, Hill JK, Lace LA, Langan AM (1997) Ecological and biogeographical effects of forest disturbance on tropical butterflies of Sumba, Indonesia. J Biogeogr 24(1):67–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann BD (2010) Using ants for rangeland monitoring: global patterns in the responses of ant communities to grazing. Ecol Ind 10(2):105–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann BD, Andersen AN (2003) Responses of ants to disturbance in Australia, with particular reference to functional groups. Austral Ecol 28:444–464

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hou YZ (2003) The framework theory on sustainable forestry development and sustainable forest management. World For Res 16(2):1–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Izhaki I, Levey DJ, Silva WR (2003) Effects of prescribed fire on an ant community in Florida pine savanna. Ecol Entomol 28:439–448

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kauppi PE, Ausubel JH, Fang J, Mather AS, Sedjo RA, Waggoner PE (2006) Returning forests analyzed with the forest identity. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 103(46):17574–17579

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Klimes P, Idigel C, Rimandai M, Fayle TM, Janda M, Weiblen GD, Novotny V (2012) Why are there more arboreal ant species in primary than in secondary tropical forests? J Anim Ecol 81:1103–1112

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klimes P, Fibich P, Idigel C, Rimandai M (2015) Disentangling the diversity of arboreal ant communities in tropical forest trees. PLoS One 10(2):e0117853. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0117853

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Luke SH, Fayle TM, Eggleton P, Turner EC, Davies RG (2014) Functional structure of ant and termite assemblages in old growth forest, logged forest and oil plam plantation in Malaysian Borneo. Biodivers Conserv 23:2817–2832

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maeto K, Sato S (2004) Impacts of forestry on ant species richness and composition in warm-temperate forests of Japan. For Ecol Manag 187(2):213–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClelland GTW, Jones IL (2009) The invasive ant fauna (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Laysan Island, Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Proc Hawaii Entomol Soc 41:37–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Patkar NB, Chavan RJ (2014) Research paper zoology diversity of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from undisturbed and disturbed habitats of Great Indian Bustard wildlife Sanctuary. Int J Sci Res 3(12):398–401

    Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2010) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricketts TH, Dinerstein E, Boucher T, Brooks TM, Butchart SH, Hoffmann M, Lamoreux JF, Morrison J, Parr M, Pilgrim JD (2005) Pinpointing and preventing imminent extinctions. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 102(51):18497–18501

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg DM, Danks HV, Lehmkuhl DM (1986) Importance of insects in environmental impact assessment. Environ Manag 10:773–783

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rubiana R, Rizali A, Denmead LH, Alamsari W, Hidayat P, Pudjianto Hindayana D, Clough Y, Tscharntke T, Buchori D (2015) Agricultural land use alters species composition but not species richness of ant communities. Asian Myrmecol 7:73–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Sala OE, Chapin FS, Armesto JJ, Berlow E, Bloomfield J, Dirzo R, Huber-Sanwald E, Huenneke LF, Jackson RB, Kinzig A (2000) Global biodiversity scenarios for the year 2100. Science 287(5459):1770–1774

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt FA, Ribas CR, Schoereder JH (2013) How predictable is the response of ant assemblages to natural forest recovery? Implications for their use as bioindicators. Ecol Ind 24:158–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strong DR, Lawton JH, Southwood R (1984) Insects on plants. Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Tanaka HO, Yamane S, Nakashizuka T, Momose K, Itioka TAKAO (2007) Effects of deforestation on mutualistic interactions of ants with plants and hemipterans in tropical rainforest of Borneo. Asian Myrmecol 1:31–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor RJ, Doran N (2001) Use of terrestrial invertebrates as indicators of the ecological sustainability of forest management under the Montreal Process. J Insect Conserv 5:221–231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D, Fargione J, Wolff B, D’Antonio C, Dobson A, Howarth R, Swackhamer D (2001) Forecasting agriculturally driven global environmental change. Science 292(5515):281–284

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Trac CJ, Harrell S, Hinckley TM, Henck AC (2007) Reforestation programs in southwest China: reported success, observed failure, and the reasons why. J Mt Sci 4:275–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang XH, Kent M, Fang XF (2007) Evergreen broad-leaved forest in Eastern China: its ecology and conservation and the importance of resprouting in forest restoration. For Ecol Manag 245(1):76–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wetterer JK (2010) Worldwide spread of the wooly ant, Tetramorium lanuginosum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecol News 13:81–88

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson KA, Meijaard E, Drummond S, Grantham HS, Boitani L, Catullo G, Christie L, Dennis R, Dutton I, Falcucci A (2010) Conserving biodiversity in production landscapes. Ecol Appl 20:1721–1732

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wu J, Wang CL (1995) The ants of China. China Forestry Publishing House, Beijing

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu ZH (2001) Two new species of the ant genus Dolichoderus Lund from Yunnan, China (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sin 26(3):355–360

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu ZH (2002) A study on the biodiversity of Formicidae ants of Xishuangbanna nature reserve. Yunnan Science and Technology Press, Kunming

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu ZH, Zeng G, Liu TY, He YF (1999a) A study on communities of Formicidae ants in different subtypes of vegetation in Xishuangbanna district of China. Zool Res 20:118–125 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu ZH, Liu TY, He YF, Zeng G (1999b) A comparative study on the ant communities in primeval and secondary forests of four vegetation subtypes in Xishuangbanna of China. Zool Res 20:360–364 (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y, Song C (2006) Impacts of afforestation, deforestation, and reforestation on forest cover in China from 1949 to 2003. J For 104:383–387

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Professor Li Qiao for providing some of the data, Chen Yanlin, Wang Siming, and Zhang Wei for some of the field work, and Professor Xu Zhenghui for help with ant identifications. Comments from Alan Andersen and Pauline Lenancker improved the draft manuscript. This work was partially supported by Grants 31270561 and 31470493 from the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation and a travel grant from the China Scholarship Council.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute of Resources Insects, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Kunming, 650224, Yunnan, China

    Zhixing Lu & Youqing Chen

  2. Land and Water Flagship, Tropical Ecosystems Research Centre, CSIRO, PMB 44, Winnellie, NT, 0822, Australia

    Benjamin D. Hoffmann

Authors
  1. Zhixing Lu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Benjamin D. Hoffmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Youqing Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Youqing Chen.

Additional information

Communicated by Dirk Sven Schmeller.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 4.

Table 4 Abundance of ant species divided into the four habitats of Natural Forest (NF), Disturbed Forest (DF), and Plantation (P1 and P2) and within the two sampling strata for data of the habitats combined
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lu, Z., Hoffmann, B.D. & Chen, Y. Can reforested and plantation habitats effectively conserve SW China’s ant biodiversity?. Biodivers Conserv 25, 753–770 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1090-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1090-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation