The Research Of Distribution Pattern And Diversity Of Ant Species In Agricultural Areas In Eastern China

In recent 30 years,the diversity of soil animals in agricultural ecosystems changed greatly by the rapid economy development and environment changing rapidly.Agricultural ecosystems are concentrated distribute in agricultural area in eastern China,which plays an important role in Chinese ecological and economic construction.Nowadays,the diversity of the soil animal and the species resource is facing a large loss.In order to clarify the distribution patterns of ant species and the differences of community diversity among different habitats in agricultural areas of eastern China,and preliminary explanation of the species composition and spatial distribution pattern of diversity of ant communities in various regions.This study set up 200 sampling plots in 9 climate regions in eastern China.Selected farmland,grassland,and plantation these three habitats in each sampling plot,and collect the surface ants by insect suction sampler.Identify all ants’ species and analysis the data.The main research findings are as follows:(1)A total of 48282 ants were collected from agricultural areas in eastern China,belonging to 188 species,54 genera,and 7 subfamilies.Among them,there are 86 species,19 genera,a total of 27395 ants from Myrmicinae;15957 ants belonging to 63 species,15 genera of Formicinae;932 ants belonging to 20 species,9 genera of Ponerinae;3986 ants belonging to 13 species,6 genera of Dolichoderinae;7 ants belonging to 3 species,2 genera of Dorylinae,4 ants belonging to 2 species,1 genera of Pseudomyrmecinae;and 1 ant belonging to 1 species,genera of Proceratiinae.(2)The Myrmicinae and Formicinaeis ants distribute in all 9 climate regions in the agricultural areas of eastern China;the Tetramorium caespitum in Tetramorium in Myrmicinae distribute in 9 climate regions.The Camponotus japonicus in Camponotus in Formicinae distribute in 8 climate regions.There are 129 ant species distribute in multiple climate regions,and up to 59 ant species distributed in only one climate regions.Tetramorium caespitum has the most individuals,account for 20.57% of the total ants individuals,the next is Solenopsis invicta,account for 14.75% of the total ants;There are 173 ant species with less than 1.00% of the total number.Among the 9 climate regions,the Marginal tropical humid region has the most ant species,with 107 species;The ant species in the Mid-temperate humid and Mid-temperate semi-arid regions are least,with only 12 species.The dominant species are varied in different climate regions,and the dominant species of ant communities from three agricultural habitats within the same climate region have huge difference.The species number and individual density of ants in the eastern agricultural area generally show a decreasing trend from south to north.Invasive ant species are mainly distributed in Hainan and Guangdong.(3)The number of species in ant communities in different climate regions ranges from 12 to 107,the average is 51 species;The ant individual density ranges from 1.4 to 19.4 each square meter.The Shannon-winner index ranges from 1.0848 to 2.8495,the average is 2.1109;The Margelef index ranges from 1.6038 to 11.8169,the average is 5.7925;The Simpson index ranges from 0.0958 to 0.4550,the average is 0.2298;The Pielou index ranges from 0.4365 to 0.8205,the average is 0.5814.The Shannon-winner index and Margelef index of ant species basically show a phenomenon that higher in the southern areas and lower in the northern areas.However,there isn’t objective regularity between the Simpson index of ant communities with the distribution from south climate regions to north climate regions.The Pielou index of ant community in each climate regions is relatively high.Between 3 habitats in each climate regions,there are more species,higher diversity index,richness index and evenness index,and lower dominance index in the plantation habitats.(4)The similarity coefficient of ant communities in different climate regions in the agricultural areas in eastern China is 0.0105~0.5528,which is at a very dissimilar to medium similarity level,with an average value of 0.1982,indicating a very dissimilar level.This indicates that there are significant differences in the structure and species composition of ant communities in different climate regions.Among the ant communities in the three habitats of agricultural areas in each climate regions,the similarity of ant communities in farmland and grassland habitats are higher,while the similarity of ant communities in farmland and plantation,grassland and plantation are lower.(5)Among the environmental factors which have a significant impact on the distribution of major species in ant communities in three different habitats,the gradient change in latitude is the most significant factor affecting the distribution and community structure of ant species.Secondly,the distribution of species is significantly correlated with factors such as the coldest month temperature and the driest month precipitation,indicating that low temperature and drought are also important to limiting ant distribution.The dynamic combination of water and heat also has a significant impact on the distribution of major ant species,The influence of water factors on the structure of ant communities in the three habitats is not significant.The results of correlation analysis between ant community diversity indexes and environmental factors in three habitats showed that the species number,diversity index,and richness index of different ant communities have the strongest negative correlation with latitude,and had a positive correlation with the average annual temperature,the average temperature of the coldest month,and other thermal factors,indicating that temperature had the most significant impact on species diversity;The Simpson index is positively correlated with latitude changes,and negatively correlated with heat factors.The correlation between individual density of ant communities and environmental factors is significantly negatively correlated with latitude,and generally positively correlated with thermal factors;The correlation between the Pielou index of ant communities in three habitats and environmental factors are weak.