Study of Ecological Characteristics of Lasius niger (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Using Vegetation Data

Keywords: indicators, ants, optimum, acidity, hemeroby, nitrogen, urban conditions

Abstract

When assessing the condition of Lasius niger (Linnaeus, 1858) nest complexes, plant communities should be considered. The aim of this work is to analyse ecological characteristics and structure of L. niger nest complexes using vegetation data. The study was conducted in Ukraine, in June 2017 (a nest complex on a territory near Vyshneve, Kyiv Oblast, 502 nest mounds) and in June 2022 (Chaika, Kyiv Oblast, 72 nest mounds, Stara Ushytsia, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, 134 nest mounds). Morphometric parametres of the mounds (diameter, height), their relative position and size classes in squares of 100 m2 were studied. At the same time, vegetation plots were carried out. Differences in the structure of L. niger nest mounds discussed previously are at least partly result from differences in the ecological conditions of the localities. Of the six ecological indicators (Hd — Tm), three — soil acidity and nitrogen, and the hemeroby indicator, which assesses the degree of anthropogenic pollution — have a significant influence on the abundance of L. niger nest mounds. These factors were shown to have a significant influence on the ant colony volume indicator. For most indicators, except moisture and light, the optimum for L. niger was close to 50 points (middle of the scale). For the anthropogenic factor, the range of values was the widest, which indirectly confirms the relative tolerance of this species to the anthropogenic influence of moderate intensity and allows its existence in urban conditions where competitive pressure from other species is lower. The sign of regression coefficient, especially the positive sign for the acidity and nitrogen indicators, demonstrates positive effect of these factors on the ant colony structure indicators.

References

Antonov, I. A. 2012. Myrmecocomplexes of the city of Baikalsk. News of the Irkutsk State University. Series: Biology. Ecology, 5 (4), 143-146 [In Russian].

Baddeley, A., Diggle, P. J., Hardegen, A., Lawrence, T., Milne, R. K. & Nair, G. 2014. On tests of spatial pattern based on simulation envelopes. Ecological Monographs, 84 (3), 477-489.

https://doi.org/10.1890/13-2042.1

Baddeley, A., Rubak, E. & Turner, R. 2015. Spatial point patterns: methodology and applications with R. CRC, Boca Raton: Chapman & Hall, New York, USA, 1-828.

https://doi.org/10.1201/b19708

Besag, J. 1977. Discussion of Dr Ripley's paper. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B, 39, 193-195.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2517-6161.1977.tb01607.x

Blinova, S. V. 2008. Changes in ant assemblages under conditions of a large industrial center. Russian Journal of Ecology, 39 (2), 148-150.

https://doi.org/10.1134/S1067413608020136

Blinova, S. V. 2012. The ants' meadows complexes in the conditions of influence of industrial pollutions (on the example of Novokuznetsk). News of the Altai State University, 3, 9-12.

Churilov, A., Goncharenko, I., Kravchenko, O., Kovalevskyi, S. B., Marchuk, Y., Maevskyi, K., Kovalevskyi, S., Marchuk, O., Shevchuk, M. & Dubchak, M. 2020. Phytoindicative assessment and analysis of vegetation in disturbed areas after illegal amber mining in the Western Polissya of Ukraine. Forestry ideas, 26 (1), 191-208.

Czechowski, W., Radchenko, A., Czechowska, W. & Vepsäläinen, K. 2012. The ants of Poland with Reference to the Myrmecofauna of Europe. Natura Optima Dux Foundation, Warszawa, Poland, 1-496.

Czechowski, W., Vepsalainen, K. & Radchenko, A. 2013. Ants on skerries: Lasius assemblages along primary succession. Insectes Sociaux, 60, 147-153.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-012-0278-y

Dauber, J. & Wolters, V. 2004. Edge effects on ant community structure and species richness in an agricultural landscape. Biodiversity and Conservation, 13, 901-915.

https://doi.org/10.1023/B:BIOC.0000014460.65462.2b

Didukh, Ya. P. & Plyuta, P. G. 1994. Phytoindication of ecological factors. Naukova Dumka, Kyiv, Ukraine, 1-280 (in Ukrainian).

Didukh, Ya. P. 2011. The ecological scales for the species of Ukrainian flora and their use in synphytoindication. Phytosociocentre, Kyiv, Ukraine, 1-176 [In Ukrainian].

Dlussky, G. M. 1981. Nester von Lasius flavus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Pedobiologia, 21, 81-99.

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-4056(23)03569-2

Frank, D. & Klotz, S. 1990. Biologisch-Ökologische Daten Zur Flora der DDR. 2 Edn. Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany, 1-169.

Goncharenko, I. V. & Didukh, Ya. P. 2003. The Braun-Blanquet approach: history and current trends. Scientific Papers of National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, 21, 82-91.

Goncharenko, I. V. 2017. Phytoindication of antropogenic impact. Dnipro, Ukraine, 1- 127 [In Ukrainian].

Goncharenko, I., Kozyr, M. & Senchylo, O. 2020. Classification of the floodplain meadows of the Seym and the Dnieper river valleys in the north-eastern part of Ukraine. Biologia, 75 (1), 53-70.

https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-019-00361-5

Goncharenko, I. V., Solomakha I. V., Shevchyk, V. L., Dvirna, T. S., Tymochko, I. Ya. & Solomakha, V. A. 2022. A phytoindicational assessment of the vegetation of afforestation belts in the Middle Dnipro Region, Ukraine. Environmental & Socio-Economic Studies, 10 (2), 30-39.

https://doi.org/10.2478/environ-2022-0009

Guseva, O. & Koval, A. 2019. Distribution of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in the agrolandscape of Northwestern Russia. Acta Biologica Sibirica, 5 (2), 138-144.

https://doi.org/10.14258/abs.v5.i2.6209

Higashi, S., Hinomizu, H., Nakano, S., Ohtani, T., Toda, M. & Yamamoto, M. 1987. Dispersion patterns of ant nests in a cool-temperate woodland of Northern Japan. Research Bulletins of the College Experiment Forests, 44 (2), 603-610.

Hill, M., Roy, D. & Thompson, K. 2002. Hemeroby, urbanity and ruderality: bioindicators of disturbance and human impact. Journal of Applied Ecology, 39 (5), 708-720.

https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2664.2002.00746.x

Holec, M., Frouz, J. & Pokorný, R. 2006. The influence of different vegetation patches on the spatial distribution of nests and the epigeic activity of ants (Lasius niger) on a spoil dump after brown coal mining (Czech Republic). European Journal of Soil Biology, 42, 158-165.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejsobi.2005.12.005

Jalas, J. 1955. Hemerobe und hemerochore Pflanzenarten. Ein terminologischer Reformversuch. Acta Societatia Pro Fauna et Flora Fennica, 72 (11), 1-15.

Landolt, E. 1977. Okologische Zeigerwerts zur Schweizer Flora. Veröffentlichungen des Geobotanischen Institutes der Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zürich, 1-208.

Mirkin, B. M. & Naumova, L. G. 2014. Concise encyclopedic dictionary of vegetation science. Gilem, Ufa, Russia, 1-288 [In Russian].

Mueller-Dombois, D. & Ellenberg, H. 2002. Aims and methods of vegetation ecology. Reprint. The Blackburn Press, New Yersey, USA, 1-547.

Novgorodova, T. A. & Ryabinin, A. S. 2015. Trophobiotic relationships between ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) and aphids (Hemiptera, Aphidomorpha) in the Southern Trans-Urals. News of the Saratov University. New episode. Series Chemistry. Biology. Ecology, 15 (2), 98-107 [In Russian].

https://doi.org/10.18500/1816-9775-2015-15-2-98-107

Putyatina, T. S. 2011. Effect of recreational pressure on ant communities of open biocenoses in Moscow. Moscow University Biological Sciences Bulletin, 66 (1), 42-45.

https://doi.org/10.3103/S0096392511010081

Radchenko, A. G. 2016. Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Ukraine. Schmalhausen Institute of zoology NAS of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine, 1-496 [In Russian].

https://doi.org/10.15407/vnm.2016.14.095

Radchenko, A. G., Stukalyuk, S. V. & Netsvetov, M. V. 2019. Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Kyiv. Entomological Review, 99 (6), 753-773.

https://doi.org/10.1134/S0013873819060058

Ramensky, L. G. 1938. Introduction to a comprehensive soil-geobotanical study of lands. Selkhozgiz, Moskva, USSR, 1-620 [In Russian].

Rasse, P. & Deneubourg, J. L. 2001. Dynamics of nest excavation and nest size regulation of Lasius niger (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Insect Behavior, 14 (4), 433-448.

https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011163804217

Ripley, B. D. 1977. Modelling spatial patterns (with discussion). Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B, 39, 172-212.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2517-6161.1977.tb01615.x

Ripley, B. D. 1981. Spatial statistics. John Wiley and Sons, New York, USA, 1-252.

https://doi.org/10.1002/0471725218

Seifert, B. 1993. The outdoors living ants of Germany with notes on taxonomy and distribution. Abhandlungen und Berichte Naturkundemuseum Gorlitz, 67, 1-44.

Seifert, B. 2020. A taxonomic revision of the Palaearctic members of the subgenus Lasius s. str. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Soil Organisms, 92 (1), 15-86.

Ślipiński, P., Zmihorski, M. & Czechowski, W. 2012. Species diversity and nestedness of ant assemblages in an urban environment. European Journal of Entomolology, 109, 197-206.

https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2012.026

Stukalyuk, S. V., Zhuravlev, V. V., Netsvetov, M. V. & Kozyr, M. S. 2019. Effect of invasive species of herbaceous plants and associated aphids (Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha: Aphididae) on the structure of ant assemblages (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Entomological Review, 99 (6), 711-732.

https://doi.org/10.1134/S0013873819060022

Stukalyuk, S. V., Kozyr, M. S., Netsvetov, M. V. & Zhuravlev, V. V. 2020. Effect of the invasive phanerophytes and aphids on them on the ant (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) assemblages. Halteres, 11: 56-89.

Stukalyuk, S., Kozyr, M. & Zhuravlev, V. 2022 a. Species composition of plants and trophically related aphids in the territory of the Lasius niger (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) nest complex. Halteres, 13, 35-47.

Stukalyuk, S. & Radchenko, Y. 2022. Characteristics of thermal processes in ant nests built under stones (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Fragmenta Entomologica, 54 (1), 73-88.

Stukalyuk, S. & Maák, I. E. 2023. The influence of illumination regimes on the structure of ant (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) community composition in urban habitats. Insectes Sociaux, 70, 423-437.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-023-00935-2

Tsyganov, D. N. 1983. Phytoindication of ecological regimes in the conifer-broadleaf Forest Subzone. Nauka, Moscow, USSR, 1-198 [In Russian].

Vepsäläinen, K., Ikonen, H., & Koivula, M. 2008. The structure of ant assemblages in an urban area of Helsinki, Southern Finland. Annales Zoologici Fennici, 45, 109-127.

https://doi.org/10.5735/086.045.0203

Wu, H., Wu, D., Lu, X. & Yin X. 2010. Spatial distribution of ant mounds and effects on soil physical properties in wetlands of the Sanjiang plain, China. Acta Ecologica Sinica, 30 (5), 270-275.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chnaes.2010.08.009

Yorkina, N., Goncharenko, I., Lisovets, O. & Zhukov, O. 2022. Assessment of naturalness: the response of social behavioral types of plants to anthropogenic Impact. Ekológia, 41 (2), 135-146.

https://doi.org/10.2478/eko-2022-0014

Zakharov, A. A. 2015. Ants of forest communities, their life cycle and role in forests. Moskva, Russia: KMK Scientific Press, 1-404 [In Russian].

Zryanin, V. A. 1998. Peculiarities of meadow ant communities on soils of different texture. Zoologicheskii Zhurnal, 77, 800-808 [In Russian].

Zryanin, V. A. 1999. Annual dynamics of meadow myrmecocomplexes on soils with different mechanical composition according to the results of studies in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, 86-99 [In Russian].

Zryanin, V. A. 2003. Effects of ants of the genus Lasius on soils of meadow biogeocenoses. Uspekhi sovremennoj biologii, 123 (3), 278-287 [In Russian].

Published
2023-10-12
How to Cite
Stukalyuk, S., Goncharenko, I., & Kozyr, M. (2023). Study of Ecological Characteristics of Lasius niger (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Using Vegetation Data. Zoodiversity, 57(6). https://doi.org/10.15407/zoo2023.06.529