Resposta da comunidade de formigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) à intensidade de uso da terra na Floresta Amazônica

Abstract

The development model adopted in Amazon region is based on land speculation along the roads, agricultural expansion, logging and urban development. This model is supported by change of land use, which harms biodiversity and compromising environmental quality. Benjamin Constant, AM, Brazil is characterized as a region with little human intervention, and great biodiversity under threat from this development model. The study was conducted in five land use systems in Benjamin Constant: primary forest, old secondary forest (areas with more than five years of abandonment), young secondary forest (areas with less than five years of abandonment), agriculture and pasture. The aim was investigating how the intensification of land use affects the community of ants, which are widely used as ecological indicators. For this, the community structure of ants was studied and the following hypotheses were tested: i) the richness of ant species decreases with the increase of intensity of land use, ii) the composition of ant community is different between systems land use. Ants were collected using the Winkler methodology. The results indicated that the greater the intensity of use of lower ground is wealth. There is a change in composition of ant communities between systems. Ants were considered good indicators of changes caused by intensification of land use in Amazon rainforest.