Comparison of ant communities (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in different habitat types in North-Central Mongolia with special reference to their response to livestock grazing

• Main Authors: U. Aibek, Sk. Yamane
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Russian Academy of Science. Southern Scientific Centre. Federal Research Centre 2015-08-01
• Series: Кавказский энтомологический бюллетень
• Subjects: Hymenoptera; Formicidae; ant community; habitat type; livestock grazing; nest density; Bogdkhan Mountains; Mongolia
• Online Access: http://www.ssc-ras.ru/files/files/21_Aibek%20Yamane.pdf
• ISSN: 1814-3326; 1814-3326

We examined for the first time the effects of livestock grazing on ant species richness, structure of ant communities and nesting density in three different habitat types and natural and grazed conditions in the Bogdkhan Mountains region, North-Central Mongolia. Twenty one species of ants were recorded in the studied area. The most species rich genera were Formica with 8 species (38.1%) and Myrmica with 4  species (19%) when all the habitat types are combined. Overall, we collected 19  species (90.5%) from forest steppe, 18  species (85.7%) from steppe, and 12  species (57.1%) from meadow. Based on occurrence data, the most common species were Formica candida, Myrmica kasczenkoi and Myrmica pisarskii. The number of ant species in each habitat depends on the grazing condition (F = 6.3837, P = 0.0217), and interaction between grazing condition and habitats (F = 6.6647, P = 0.0073). The frequency occurrence of ants in all habitat types depends only on habitat conditions (F  =  4.4556, P = 0.0499) and not on any effects of habitats (F = 4.4207, P  =  0.6632) and interaction between grazing condition and habitats (F = 0.9008, P = 0.4248). In total, we counted 1173 ant nests in 23 transects. The largest number of nests (957, or 81.5%) belonged to Formica candida, followed by Myrmica kasczenkoi (46 nests, 3.9%). The lowest number of nests (1, or 0.08%) belonged to Formica exsecta, Formica sanguinea and Leptothorax acervorum, followed by Formica uralensis and Myrmica forcipata (2, or 0.15%). Among the six habitats, the lowest density of nests was in the grazed forest steppe (0.15 nests/m2) and the highest in the natural meadow (1.17  nests/m2). The natural (0.41  nests/m2) and grazed (0.59  nest/m2) steppes had similar nest densities. Statistically, there was no difference in the nest density between all habitat types (F = 6.68, P = 0.5237).