Estrutura e composição da fauna de formigas (Hymenoptera: formicidae​) em solo hidromórfico de áreas de veredas do cerrado

Abstract

The Cerrado is a diverse ecosystem with various types of vegetation due to its topography, varied climate, and extensive territory. These variations include forest formations, riparian forests, gallery forests, dry forests, cerradões, savanna formations, cerrado stricto sensu, palm groves, veredas, campo sujo, campo rupestre, and campo limpo. Veredas, found in constantly humid hydromorphic soils, are surrounded by campo limpo, and the buritis that compose them have an average height of 12 to 15 meters and a coverage of 5% to 10%. In the Cerrado, ants play an important role in the energy and biomass flow of terrestrial ecosystems, as well as in the evolution of community structure. We understand the need to inventory and understand the ant fauna composition in Cerrado phytophysiognomies that have not been sampled yet, such as veredas. Collections were made in Vereda, Transition, and Cerrado areas in the Dom Osório Stoffell State Park, located in the southern state of Mato Grosso, using canned sardine protein baits. Fifteen plots were set up in each type of environment, totaling 180 baits in each stratum (soil and arboreal) for one hour, both in the dry and rainy seasons. We found 67 ant species across the Cerrado, transition area, and veredas gradients. With a richness of 44 species and Shannon's diversity index (H') of 3.18 for the Cerrado, richness of 46 species and diversity H' 3.14 for the transition area, and richness of 43 species and diversity H' 3.01 for the veredas. There was no significant difference in richness but a difference in species composition inhabiting the environments. We observed changes in ant species during the dry and rainy seasons in the colonization of the Cerrado, Transition, and Vereda environments, indicating a different composition of ant species between environments and seasons, reflecting the biology of the taxonomic groups found in each area.