I am in my 4th year of University, for my Honours project I am looking into how urbanisation affects the distribution and species diversity of ants in green spaces, within the city of Aberdeen.
I am just wondering what the best way of measuring the distribution would be. For example I'm going to look at a park and pick three areas in the park and categorise them into low, medium and high urbanisation. I will then place several baited traps within each area.
Would it be best to observe a baited trap for 30mins to an hour and count how many ants I see, thus measuring the frequency of ants in that particular spot?
Yes, but repeat the counts a number of times, usually 30 :)
Hello Eloise; Bait sampling, pitfall trapping, sticky traps in vegetation are all commonly used in ant-sampling studies. Different species are differently susceptible to the different methods and so, if only one was used, you would get different subsets of the actual ant fauna.
Use methods that people and pets won't find, disturb or wreck. Pitfall traps discreetly placed generally aren't disturbed...in my own experience.
The best reference to get you started is.
Agosti, Majer, Flonso and Schultz 2000. Ants: standard methods for measuring and monitoring biodiversity. Smithsonian Inst. Press, Washington and London.
Pecarevic, Danoff-Burg and RR Dunn. 2010. Biodiversity on Broadway - Enigmatic Diversity of the Societies of Ants (Formicidae) on the Streets of New York City. PLOS One
This one is very similar to what you are thinking about.
Best of luck, Jim Des Lauriers
Hi James Des Lauriers ,
Thank you very much for this! These resources are very helpful, I really appreciate your input.
Hello Eloise; You are most welcome! Your next problem is going to be identifying the species that you collect. Have you found keys to the species in your region? Is there an expert who can check your determinations? Start by asking around your department and local museum. You might also want to look at this website. https://www.antweb.org/ The images are superb, expertly identified and the website is VERY user-friendly. Cheers, Jim Des Lauriers
Dear Eloise Rose Nelson . See the following useful RG links: Article Ants’ Personality and Its Dependence on Foraging Styles: Res...
Article Species Diversity and Distribution Patterns of the Ants of A...
Kindly see also the following useful RG links: Article Overview of the Distribution, Habitat Association and Impact...
Article Global models of ant diversity suggest regions where new dis...
Also check please the following useful links: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4040
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep12496
The following RG links are also very useful: Article Modeling potential distribution of newly recorded ant, Brach...
Article Taxonomic, Species and Functional Group Diversity of Ants in...
Visit kindly the following useful RG links: https://journals.scholarsportal.info/details/00201812/v53i0001/65_mtteoausi.xml&sub=all
Article Competence of Litter Ants for Rapid Biodiversity Assessments
Hi James Des Lauriers
There is an entomologist Jenni, she is my secondary supervisor for my project and will be able to help me identify the ants! :) Thank you for the link, it's a great website!
Hi Andrew Paul McKenzie Pegman
Thank you for your reply! Just to clarify, if I set out 5 bait traps, I would need to sample them 30 times each?
You are most welcome dear Eloise Rose Nelson . Wish you the best always.
Eloise; If you are sampling at a number of different locations related to the degree of urbanization you'll certainly need a fairly protracted sampling period...the time constraints of your academic schedule will restrict your ambition.
To illustrate the problem, I attached a performance curve related to a project I did that involved sampling at one location that had 14 traps scattered about the plot (about 100 x 50 ft). Notice that even after a year of weekly sampling I hadn't sampled the entire ant fauna of that plot...at least the accumulated number of species hadn't drawn to an asymptote yet! Perhaps you can choose to compare a "less urbanized" location with a "more urbanized location". In that case Dr. Pegman's suggestion about sample size is proper. Plotting a performance curve like the one attached would indicate "when to quit". Be sure to discuss this with Jenni. She will surely have suggestions about how to avoid getting buried!
Best regards, Jim Des Lauriers
Hi James Des Lauriers thank you for this! I definitely underestimated how many repeats I would need to do, I think I might have to sample one or two locations and as you said compare a more urbanised location to a less urbanised one. Or just do one location and sample more areas within that location. I only really have a month to complete this, so time is constraint.
Eloise; You are being wise. Good luck with the project.
Jim Des Lauriers
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