Ants

by Agosti, Donat; Majer, Jonathan D.; Alonso, Leanne E.; Schultz, Ted R.

• ISBN13: 9781560988588
• ISBN10: 1560988584
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-11-01
• Publisher: Smithsonian Inst Pr

Summary

Numbering more than nine thousand described species, ants rank among the most abundant and widespread groups. The collective weight of ants in tropical forests and grasslands may constitute as much as 10 to 15 percent of the animal biomass. Ground-dwelling ants are major invertebrate predators in some areas, and they also have profound effects on flora because of their prodigious ability to consume plants, disperse seeds, and enrich the soil. Interacting with other organisms at every level, ants are ubiquitous, diverse, easy to collect, and sensitive to environmental change -- all attributes that make them well suited to biodiversity studies.

Written by thirty leading ant biologists, this comprehensive book describes procedures for surveying the diversity of ground-dwelling ants. It introduces a standardized protocol for collecting ant samples in any part of the world and for conducting repeated sampling over time, which enables researchers to analyze global and longterm patterns. Chapters compare ant diversity to the diversity of other organisms and explain

Table of Contents

List of Figures	ix
List of Tables	xiii
Foreword	xv
Edward O. Wilson
Preface	xvii
Biodiversity Studies, Monitoring, and Ants: An Overview	1	(8)
Leeanne E. Alonso
Donat Agosti
A Primer on Ant Ecology	9	(16)
Michael Kaspari
A Global Ecology of Rainforest Ants: Functional Groups in Relation to Environmental Stress and Disturbance	25	(10)
Alan N. Andersen
The Interactions of Ants with Other Organisms	35	(10)
Ted R. Schultz
Terrence P. McGlynn
Diversity of Ants	45	(35)
William L. Brown Jr.
Ants as Indicators of Diversity	80	(9)
Leeanne E. Alonso
Using Ants to Monitor Environmental Change	89	(10)
Michael Kaspari
Jonathan D. Majer
Broad-Scale Patterns of Diversity in Leaf Litter Ant Communities	99	(23)
Philip S. Ward
Field Techniques for the Study of Ground-Dwelling Ants: An Overview, Description, and Evaluation	122	(23)
Brandon T. Bestelmeyer
Donat Agosti
Leeanne E. Alonso
C. Roberto F. Brandao
William L. Brown Jr.
Jacques H. C. Delabie
Rogerio Silvestre
Sampling Effort and Choice of Methods	145	(10)
Jacques H. C. Delabie
Brian L. Fisher
Jonathan D. Majer
Ian W. Wright
Specimen Processing: Building and Curating an Ant Collection	155	(17)
John E. Lattke
Major Regional and Type Collections of Ants (Formicidae) of the World and Sources for the Identification of Ant Species	172	(14)
C. Roberto F. Brandao
What to Do with the Data	186	(18)
John T. Longino
The ALL Protocol: A Standard Protocol for the Collection of Ground-Dwelling Ants	204	(3)
Donat Agosti
Leeanne E. Alonso
Applying the ALL Protocol: Selected Case Studies	207	(8)
Brian L. Fisher
Annette K. F. Malsch
Raghavendra Gadagkar
Jacques H. C.
Delabie, Heraldo L. Vasconcelos
Jonathan D. Majer
Appendix 1 List and Sources of Materials for Ant Sampling Methods	215	(4)
Appendix 2 Ant Survey Data Sheet	219	(2)
Appendix 3 List of Materials for Ant Specimen Processing	221	(2)
Glossary	223	(8)
Ted R. Schultz
Leeanne E. Alonso
Literature Cited	231	(40)
Contributors	271	(4)
Index	275