Subproject

E16 - Ant and termite communities along a habitat degradation gradient: patterns and consequences for ecosystem function

Workpackage

WP5: Use of farmland habitat, temperature tolerance and the survival of ant species in forest fragments

Project leader(s)

Marcell Peters
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wägele

Project description

Agricultural land, and to a lower extend also secondary forest, differs in temperature conditions from natural rainforest. We test if the occurrence of forest ants in the agricultural land and secondary forest is determined by the susceptibility of species to high temperatures. To address this hypothesis we measure temperature tolerance of forest ant species and monitor their occurrence in forest, secondary forest and in the agricultural land. We expect that forest species which show a low susceptibility to high temperatures may also survive in secondary forest or even in low-intensity farmland systems, e.g. at field edges which often retain semi-natural structures. In contrast, species which are more prone to high temperatures are expected to show a lower presence outside of mature rainforest habitat. Moreover, we test if the survival of species in small rainforest fragments is determined by their capability of using farmland habitat.

Keywords

ants, habitat fragmentation, temperature tolerance

Contribution to
cross-cutting themes (CCT)

• Monitoring and assessment of biodiversity in space and time (Theme1)
• Understanding human use, value and impact in space and time (Theme3)
• Recommendations and measures for sustainable use of biodiversity (Theme4)

Link to Subproject