Abstract
Nest complexes of Formica ants were studied in the Darwin Nature Reserve, in Rybinsk Reservoir basin (Vologda and Yaroslavl Provinces). A strong negative influence of wild boars was demonstrated based on the data of 1997–2012. Boars damage ant nests, which may lead to their complete destruction. The adverse influence of boars is intensified in the years with high water levels in the reservoir, when the boars cannot feed in the temporary inundation zone and thus increase their impact on the forest and ant nests. Due to the long succession of highwater years since 2004 and the resulting strong impact of wild boars, the number and size of ant nests drastically decreased, and the abundance and biomass of Formica ants in forest ecosystems were reduced.
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Original Russian Text © I.A. Rybnikova, A.V. Kuznetsov, 2015, published in Zoologicheskii Zhurnal, 2015, Vol. 94, No. 10, pp. 1125–1131.
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Rybnikova, I.A., Kuznetsov, A.V. Complexes of Formica s. str. nests in the Darwin Nature Reserve and causes of their degradation. Entmol. Rev. 95, 947–952 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0013873815080023
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0013873815080023