Publications scientifiques
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Publications scientifiques
Kwuidja Ngajeu Marey-Marvell
Edoa Stephanie
Guibaï Jean-Pierre
Lekeufack Nguefack Gustave
Fomekong-Lontchi Judicaël
Aléné Desirée Chantal
Champlain Djiéto‐Lordon
BIODIVERSITY JOURNAL
We study ant community in Obala (Cameroon), a forest-savannah ecotone to determine diversity and functional structure. Ants were sampled using pitfall, bait and hand-collecting in four habitats. Ant community was characterized using genera and species richness per subfamily, species richness and Pielou index for diversity, Venn diagrams for the distribution of species richness, multinomial model and Individual value to determine habitat specialization, and Multiple Correspondence Analysis to identify functional structure. We identified 104 ant species belonging to 34 genera and six subfamilies; 90, 31, 35 and 17 ant species were collected respectively in cocoa farms, food crops plantations, teak forests and savannahs. Myrmicinae, Ponerinae and Formicinae were the richest subfamilies at genera and species levels. Cocoa farms were richer and more diverse (S = 90; E = 0.68) than other habitats. Eight species were shared amongst the four habitats and the high number of generalist species occurred between cocoa farms and teak forests. Indicator species were mainly ground-dwelling ant species, confirming the high level of environmental threat in Obala. Four functional structures were identified: non-dominant ground foraging species with low ability for space control; tree foraging species with low ability for food control found in cocoa farm; subdominant species that exert medium level of food and space control; and ubiquist numerically dominant ant species with high aptitude for food and space control. In a functional structure involving ant species that plays the same or complementary roles in the ecosystem functioning and determine network of species assemblages.