|
Contents
Overview
CORE PROJECTS
Structure and diversity of neotropical ant communities
Scale effects
Ant
and plant species turnover along a drought gradient
Ant communities vs habitat structure
COLLABORATIONS
Horizontal and vertical distribution of ants and termites in tropical
forests
Structure and diversity of neotropical termite communities
Chemoecology of Crematogaster
ants
Staphylinidae
Spiders
Braconidae
= click icon to download in pdf format.
|
|
Overview
For
practical reasons, invertebrates are seldom taken into account during the
design and selection of protected areas. Yet they constitute the largest
part of animal biodiversity. Ants are abundant in most terrestrial
ecosystem where they generally play an important ecological role. Compared
to most other invertebrates they can be relatively easily collected and
identified and are not hyperdiverse (11000 described species, a number
comparable to the number of bird species). Ants and termites can be very
useful for biomonitoring (e.g. CTFS initiative). We conduct various projects
that mainly address the following questions: which environmental factors
should be taken into account if we want to preserve the diversity of ant
communities ? what are the interactions of ants with other organisms,
especially termites, in the
ecosystem ? can we use plant communities as a surrogate of ant communities
when selecting protected areas ? how ant species are distributed along environmental gradients ? how can we reliably characterize ant
communities with a minimum sampling effort ?
PDF available:
= no password required
 = when asked for Name and Password, enter ant for Name and egg for Password.
(This approach prevents indexing web crawlers from publishing access to personal-use copyright material
CORE
PROJECTS
Structure and
diversity of neotropical ant communities
Locations:
Methods: ALL standardized protocol for collecting ground-dwelling ants
and other methods
 |
Dejean, A.;
Djiéto-Lordon, C.; Céréghino, R. & Leponce, M. 2008. Ontogenetic
succession and the ant mosaic: an empirical approach using pioneer
trees. Basic and Applied Ecology. in press. |
|
Delabie, J.H.C.;
Jahyny, B.; Cardoso do Nascimento, I. ; Mariano, C.; Lacau, S.;
Campiolo, S.; Philpott, S.M. & Leponce, M. 2007. Contribution of cocoa
plantations to the conservation of native ants (Insecta: Hymenoptera:
Formicidae) with a special emphasis on the Atlantic Forest fauna of
southern Bahia, Brazil. Biodiversity and Conservation.
16:2359-2384
|
|
Dejean A.; Corbara,
B.; Leponce, M.; Orivel, J. 2007. Ants of rainforest canopies: the
implications of territoriality and predatory behavior. Functional
Ecosystems and Communities. 1: 105-120
|
Scale effects
A reliable characterization of community diversity and composition,
necessary to allow inter-sites comparisons and to monitor changes, is
especially difficult to reach in speciose invertebrate communities.
Spatial components of the sampling design (sampling interval, extent and
grain) as well as temporal variations of species density affect the
measures of diversity (species richness S, Buzas & Gibson’s evenness E and
Shannon’s heterogeneity H). Our aim is to document the small-scale spatial
distribution of ground-dwelling ants and to analyze how the community
characterization is best achieved with a minimal sampling effort.
Location: subtropical dry forests of the Chaco humedo, Argentina
Methods: extraction of leaf-litter ants with Winkler bags.
|
Leponce, M. ; Theunis,
L. ; Delabie, J. & Roisin, Y. 2004. Scale dependence of diversity
measures in a leaf-litter ant assemblage. Ecography, 27: 253-267 |
Ant and plant species
turnover along a drought gradient
Location:
Chaco seco,
Paraguay
|
Delsinne, T.; Leponce,
M.; Roisin, Y. 2007. Spatial and temporal foraging overlaps in a
Chacoan ground foraging ant assemblage. J. Arid Environments.
71:29-44
|
|
Delsinne, T.; Leponce,
M.; Theunis, L.; Braet, Y.; Roisin, Y. Rainfall influence the ant
sampling in dry forests. Biotropica, under revision. |
Ant communities vs habitat structure
Location:
Chaco humedo, Rio Pilcomayo N.P.
|
Theunis, L.;
Gilbert, M.; Roisin, Y.; Leponce, M. 2005. Periodic pattern of species
distribution in a ground-dwelling ant assemblage. Insectes Sociaux,
52:366-377.
|
COLLABORATIONS
Horizontal and vertical distribution of ants and termites in tropical
forests
IBISCA-Panama, IBISCA-Santo,
IBISCA-Queensland
Horizontal and vertical stratification
of soil and canopy arthropods studied with the
SolvinBretzel (canopy
raft) and the
canopy cranes in Panama.
|
Roisin, Y.; Dejean, A.; Corbara, B.;
Orivel, J. & Leponce, M. 2006. Vertical partitioning of the termite
assemblage in a neotropical rainforest. Oecologia, 149:301-311. |
|
Basset, Y.; Corbara, B.; Barrios,
H.; Cuénoud, Ph.; Leponce, M.; Aberlenc, H.P.; Bail, J.; Bito, D.;
Bridle, J.R.; Castaño-Meneses, G.; Cizek, L.; Cornejo, A.; Curletti,
G.; Delabie, J.H.C.; Dejean, A.; Didham, R.K.; Dufrêne, M.; Fagan,
L.L.; Floren, A.; Frame, D.; Hallé, F.; Hardy, O.J.; Hernandez, A.;
Kitching, R.L.; Lewinsohn, T.M.; Lewis, O.T.; Manumbor, M.; Medianero,
E.; Missa, O.; Mitchell, A.M.; Mogia, M.; Novotny, V.; Ødegaard, F.;
Gama de Oliveira, E.; Orivel, J.; Ozanne, C.M.P.; Pascal, O.; Pinzón,
S.; Rapp, M.; Ribeiro, S.P.; Roisin, Y.; Roslin, T.; Roubik, D.W.;
Samaniego, M.; Schmidl, J.; Sørensen, L.L.; Tishechkin, A.; Van
Osselaer, C.; & Winchester, N.N. 2007. IBISCA-Panama, a large-scale
study of arthropod beta-diversity and vertical stratification in a
lowland rainforest: rationale, study sites and field protocols.
Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique,
Entomologie, 77: 39-69
|
|
Basset, Y. & Leponce,
M. 2005. IBISCA: Towards a Census of Canopy Life. What's Up? The
Newsletter of the International Canopy Network, 12: 1-2 |
More details
Canopy ants in Papua New
Guinea
A
research program conducted together with Dr. O. Missa and based on the
material he collected using the fogging technique in a New Guinea forest.
|
Missa, O. ; Leponce,
M. ; Pauly , A. 1998. Structure of an ant assemblage in the canopy of
a tropical rainforest in Papua New Guinea. Proceedings, 13th Congress
of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects, IUSSI,
Adelaide, Australia, 29/12/98 - 4/1/99, p.319 |
Chemoecology of Crematogaster ants
A research program conducted by
Dr. J.C. de Biseau, Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Life colonies of Crematogaster are collected during our biodiversity
inventories. Master student Christophe Clark studied the defensive behavior
of C. montezumia at our lab.
|
Clark, C. 2001 Rôle
et utilisation de la substance défensive de Crematogaster montezumia (Hymenoptera:
Formicidae). Mémoire de DES, Université de Liège. (supervisors: de
Biseau & Leponce, ULB)
|
Structure and
diversity of termite communities
Ants and termites may represent up to
30% of the animal biomass in tropical forests. In parallel to our ant
inventories, termite inventories are conducted by
Prof. Y. Roisin, Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Rapid biodiversity assessment methods are tested. Taxonomical and
phylogenetical studies are conducted.
Locations: Gran Chaco, Costa Rica, Panama, New Guinea
Methods: N.H.M London standardized protocol for collecting termites.
|
Bourguignon T.,
Leponce M. & Roisin Y. Revision of the Termitinae with snapping
soldiers (Isoptera: Termitidae) from New Guinea. Submitted. |
|
Roisin,
Y. & Leponce, M. 2004. Characterizing termite assemblages in
fragmented forests: a test case in the Argentinian Chaco. Austral
Ecology, 29:637-646.
|
|
Ingenbleek, A. 2002.
Evaluation de la méthode des transects pour caractériser les assemblages
de termites des forêst subtropicales. Mémoire de fin d'études. (supervisor:
Prof. Y. Roisin, ULB) |
|
Leponce, M.; Roisin, Y.; Pasteels,
J.M. 1999 Community interactions between ants and arboreal-nesting
termites in New Guinea coconut plantations. Insectes Sociaux ,
46 : 126-130. |
|
Leponce, M. ; Roisin, Y. ; Pasteels,
J.M. 1997 Structure and dynamics of the arboreal termite community in
New Guinean coconut plantations. Biotropica, 29 : 193-203. |
|
Darlington,
J.P.E.C. ; Leponce, M. ; Ogutu, W. 1997 Termites (Isoptera) in Kibale
Forest National Park, Western Uganda. Journal of East African
Natural History, 86 : 51-59. |
|
Leponce, M. 1997 Reproductive
strategies and community structure of New Guinean arboreal nesting
termites. Bulletin & Annales de la Société royale belge
d’Entomologie, 133 : 283-289. |
|
Leponce, M.; Roisin, Y. ; Pasteels,
J.M. 1996 Reproductive mechanisms and dynamics of habitat colonization
in Microcerotermes biroi (Isoptera: Termitidae).
Ecological Entomology, 21 : 178-184. |
|
Leponce, M.; Roisin, Y.; Pasteels,
J.M. 1996 Intraspecific interactions in a community of arboreal
nesting termites. Journal of Insect Behavior, 9 : 799-817. |
|
Leponce, M. ; Roisin, Y. ; Pasteels,
J.M. 1995 Environmental influences on the arboreal nesting termite
community in New Guinean coconut plantations. Environmental
Entomology, 24 : 1442-1452. |
Spiders
A research program conducted by
Dr. L. Baert, RBINS. Taxonomical
study of Spiders collected during our biodiversity inventories.
Braconidae
A research program conducted by
Y. Braet, FSAGx. Taxonomical study of Braconidae
(Ichneumonoidea, Hymenoptera) collected during our biodiversity
inventories.
|
van Achterberg, C. &
Braet, Y.(2004) New Pambolus from Argentinia. Zool. Med. Leiden
78:337-344 (208KB) |
|
