Local determinants of species richness in litter ant communities (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

In this paper we asked the question why does local biodiversity of litter ants vary. We tested the hypotheses that local resource availability and heterogeneity to species richness, using litter weight as a surrogate of resource availability. Litter ants were sampled in a forest remnant and extracted using Berlese funnels. Total litter weight, weight of litter fractions, and local heterogeneity of litter were used as explanatory variables in regression tests, using local ant species richness as response variable. Only total litter weight produced significant results, even though little species richness variation was explained by this variable. We discussed these results concluding that small scale disturbances may be responsible for local ant species richness variation.