Padrões de forrageamento e biomassa vegetal consumida por Atta laevigata (Hymenoptera : Formicidae) em uma área do cerrado brasileiro

• Ano de defesa: 2007
• Autor(a) principal: Costa, Alan Nilo da
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Uberlândia; BR; Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Conservação de Recursos Naturais; Ciências Biológicas; UFU
• Palavras-chave em Português: Saúva; Seleção; Herbivoria; Savana; Inseto; Interação inseto-planta; Leaf-cutting ant; Plant selection; Herbivory; Insect-plant interaction; Savanna; CNPQ::CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS::ECOLOGIA
• Link de acesso: https://repositorio.ufu.br/handle/123456789/13438

Leaf-cutting ants of the genus Atta (Formicidae: Attini) are considered highly generalist herbivores, and they have been frequently referred to as the most prevalent herbivores in the Neotropics. However, most studies on leaf-cutter ants were conducted in lowland tropical rain forests. There is only limited knowledge of the foraging patterns of these ants in Brazilian Cerrado. In this study I determined the diversity of attacked plants by Atta laevigata, patterns of plant selection, and the amount of plant biomass consumed. A. laevigata colonies had a generalist behavioral, attacking 102 plant species. This represented 73 89% of the available plant species. There was a clear distinction between the species composition of attacked plants by colonies and the species composition of the plant community surrounding the nests. I estimate that leaf-cutter ants harvest 17.7% of the leaves produced by cerrado trees, shrubs and vines. This is approximately 2-3 fold more damage than is caused by all other insect herbivores combined. Furthermore, these estimates of herbivory by leaf-cutters are higher than those calculated for tropical rain forests (range = 1.6-17%). Given their selectivity, the frequent defoliation of attacked plants, and the heterogeneous exploration of the area surrounding their nests, leaf-cutting ants probably have a strong influence on the Cerrado vegetation. This could be especially true for highly fragmented and disturbed sites, where Atta populations are greatly elevated.