I am working on a project about mutualism between ants and plants. I would like to know what are the methods used to obtain the number of ant individuals in an efficient way. I am in doubt what would be the best way.
Hi, I suggest the pitfall trap! see references:
Zhang, S., Y. Zhang, and K. Ma. 2012. Disruption of ant-aphid mutualism in canopy enhances the abundance of beetles on the forest floor. PLoS ONE 7:e35468.
Zhang, S., Y. Zhang, and K. Ma. 2015. Mutualism with aphids affects the trophic position, abundance of ants and herbivory along an elevational gradient. Ecosphere 6:art253.
Thank you! Specifically, I'm looking for a methodology to detect abundance of ants in domatia. Do you know something specific to this case?
If it can be destructive sampling, then you could use something like tanglefoot. https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=tanglefoot&tag=mh0b-20&index=aps&hvadid=3527195770&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_97r2mek6dt_e
If it cannot be destructive, then video monitoring might work. It would be better still if you can capture and mark the ants in some way that you can identify individuals in the videos.
Las hormigas se pueden monitorar ponendo actractivos specificos: miel, liquidos dulces, semillas o ponendo cerca de las plantas bandas, tiras con cola.
Hello, I do believe that pitfall traps are interesting to collect overall ant diversity but I would strongly consider beating. Please check this paper: Koch, E., Camarota, F., & Vasconcelos, H. L. (2015). Plant Ontogeny as a Conditionality Factor in the Protective Effect of Ants on a Neotropical Tree. Biotropica.
Dear Khadija... You can find remarkable information in this paper:
Dáttilo, W.; Marquitti, F.M.D.; Guimarães, P.R.; Izzo, T.J. (2014). The structure of ant-plant ecological networks: is abundance enough?. Ecology 95: 475-485.
Here we discuss the importance of ants abundance on ant-plant interactions, including an important method to sampling ants on foliage.
In this another paper we discuss another important but frequently overlooked information: nocturnal ants (including their functional role).
Dáttilo, W.; Fagundes, R.; Gurka, C.A.Q.; Silva, M.S.A.; Vieira, M.C.L.; Izzo, T.J.; Díaz-Castelazo, C.; Del-Claro, K.; Rico-Gray, V. (2014). Individual-based ant-plant networks: diurnal-nocturnal structure and species-area relationship. PLoS One 9(6): e99838.
You may want to check how useful this paper can be.
How plants and honeydew-producing hemipterans affect ant species richness and structure in a tropical forest zone
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