Ecologia de formigas subterrâneas em um carste neotropical: estratificação vertical, uso do solo e influência climática

Abstract

Subterranean environments represent one of the least understood compartments of terrestrial biodiversity, particularly regarding ant ecology. Although ants have been extensively studied in epigeic habitats, the diversity, community organization, and environmental responses of ants in the subsurface remain poorly explored. This dissertation aimed to investigate ecological patterns of subterranean ant communities in a neotropical karst landscape, integrating methodological and ecological approaches to understand their vertical distribution in the soil and the influence of edaphic and climatic factors on assemblage richness and composition. In the first chapter, we evaluated community responses to edaphic gradients, exploring vertical stratification along the soil profile with distinct physicochemical characteristics. The results revealed strong differentiation in assemblage richness and composition among strata, indicating that the subsurface consists of a mosaic of ecologically distinct microhabitats rather than a homogeneous environment. These patterns also highlight limitations in the current nomenclature used to classify subterranean strata, reinforcing the need for more refined approaches. In the second chapter, we investigated the influence of climatic variables, including temperature, humidity, precipitation, and soil temperature, on community richness and composition over time. Despite the relative thermal stability of the subsurface, subterranean assemblages responded significantly to climatic variation, exhibiting changes in richness and composition associated with environmental gradients. These results indicate that the subsurface does not function solely as a passive climatic refuge, but rather as a dynamic environment sensitive to external conditions. Overall, this dissertation advances the ecology of subterranean ants in neotropical karst ecosystems by highlighting the importance of vertical stratification, methodological choices, and climate in structuring these communities, and by reinforcing the relevance of the subsurface in biodiversity and conservation studies.