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ANTS AS BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS FOR MONITORING CHANGES IN ARID ENVIRONMENTS: LESSONS FOR MONITORING PROTECTED AREAS
Citation:
Nash, M S. AND W G. Whitford. ANTS AS BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS FOR MONITORING CHANGES IN ARID ENVIRONMENTS: LESSONS FOR MONITORING PROTECTED AREAS. Presented at 1st International Symposium and Workshop on Arid Zone Environments: Research and Management Options for Protected Areas, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), January 23, 2000.
Impact/Purpose:
The primary objectives of this research are to:
Develop methodologies so that landscape indicator values generated from different sensors on different dates (but in the same areas) are comparable; differences in metric values result from landscape changes and not differences in the sensors;
Quantify relationships between landscape metrics generated from wall-to-wall spatial data and (1) specific parameters related to water resource conditions in different environmental settings across the US, including but not limited to nutrients, sediment, and benthic communities, and (2) multi-species habitat suitability;
Develop and validate multivariate models based on quantification studies;
Develop GIS/model assessment protocols and tools to characterize risk of nutrient and sediment TMDL exceedence;
Complete an initial draft (potentially web based) of a national landscape condition assessment.
This research directly supports long-term goals established in ORDs multiyear plans related to GPRA Goal 2 (Water) and GPRA Goal 4 (Healthy Communities and Ecosystems), although funding for this task comes from Goal 4. Relative to the GRPA Goal 2 multiyear plan, this research is intended to "provide tools to assess and diagnose impairment in aquatic systems and the sources of associated stressors." Relative to the Goal 4 Multiyear Plan this research is intended to (1) provide states and tribes with an ability to assess the condition of waterbodies in a scientifically defensible and representative way, while allowing for aggregation and assessment of trends at multiple scales, (2) assist Federal, State and Local managers in diagnosing the probable cause and forecasting future conditions in a scientifically defensible manner to protect and restore ecosystems, and (3) provide Federal, State and Local managers with a scientifically defensible way to assess current and future ecological conditions, and probable causes of impairments, and a way to evaluate alternative future management scenarios.
Description:
The responses of ant communities to structural change (removal of an invasive
were studied in a replicated experiment in a Chihuahuan Desert grassland. The
results from sampling of ant communities by pit-fall trapping were validated by
mapping ant colonies on the experimental plots. Spatial and temporal responses of
a dominant species were examined by kriging maps and analysis of variance. The
'IL,Merical and spatial responses of ants recorded from pit-fall trap data were the
same as those recorded from mapping ant nests. The dominant liquid feeding species
Change and environmental stress. The co-dominant seed-harvesting ant, Pogonomyrmex desertorum Wheeler abundance, exhibited a numerical response to ecosystem change but the nests did not change their spatial distribution. Species richness was also affected by ecosystem change.