Abstract

MATIENZO BRITO, Yaril; ALFONSO SIMONETTI, Janet  and  VAZQUEZ MORENO, Luis L. Characterization of Ants Fauna and its Relation with Management Practices of an Urban Agrarian Production System. Fitosanidad [online]. 2010, vol.14, n.4, pp.219-228. ISSN 1562-3009.

Ants constitute around 15% of total animal biomass and they realize important functions in every ecosystem. In agrarian systems they show high abundance and diversity, thus they also provide important ecological services. With the objective of evaluate the relationship between ants fauna and practices made in an urban agrarian production system a study was conducted at the UBPC 1 de Julio, in Cerro municipality, Havana, between March 2009 and March 2010. Four sampling stations were selected with three transects and three micro-environments each one. Bimonthly samples were made with traps made with moistened and sweetened cotton edible baits. Prevailing genus, species richness and presence frequency were the variables evaluated. Solenopsis was the most abundant and frequent genus, followed by Paratrechina, Brachymyrmex and Wasmannia. It was evident that in stations with higher plant variety and lower management intensity, ants' abundance is greater. Higher genera richness was observed in edge areas, in which Solenopsis (1 594), Wasmannia (494) and Brachymyrmex (271) dominated. The use of intensive practices as use of pesticides, fertilizers, soil remove and intensive edge areas management, among others favored the occurrence of high anthropization degree environments colonization.

Keywords : ants; practices; management; urban agriculture.

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