Rapid biodiversity assessment of surface soil antsin difference land used types of Lumpang province (Thai)

Abstract

Comparison on the diversity of surface soil ants in four different land use types by means of Rapid Biodiversity Assessment (RBA) technique was made. One Hectare with 20 pitfall traps was designated in each of Mixed Deciduous forest, Dry Dipterocarp forest, Longan Plantation and Corn Field at Ngao district, Lumpang province, Northern Thailand. Ant specimens were sorted and morphospecies identification to subfamily performed. Species richness, abundance, Fisher Alpha, Shannon Weiner and Sorenson similarity indices were analyzed. There were 27, 23, 34 and 15 morphospecies found in Mixed Deciduous forest, Dry Dipterocarp forest, longan plantation and corn field respectively. The highest abundance was found in the longan plantation with 13,154 individuals which 12,860 individuals of Pheidologeton sp., subfamily Myrmicinae. The Fisher Alpha and Shannon Weiner indices showed the highest diversity in Mixed Deciduous forest and the lowest in longan plantation. However, the species composition of ants between Mixed Deciduous and Dry Dipterocarp showed high similarity while the low similarity was found in the corn field.