Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > The responses of leaf litter ant communities to...
View graph of relations

The responses of leaf litter ant communities to wildfires in the Brazilian Amazon: a multi-region assessment

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published

Standard

The responses of leaf litter ant communities to wildfires in the Brazilian Amazon: a multi-region assessment. / Silveira, Juliana M.; Barlow, Jos; Andrade, Rafael B. et al.
In: Biodiversity and Conservation, Vol. 22, No. 2, 02.2013, p. 513-529.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Harvard

Silveira, JM, Barlow, J, Andrade, RB, Louzada, J, Mestre, LA, Lacau, S, Zanetti, R, Numata, I & Cochrane, MA 2013, 'The responses of leaf litter ant communities to wildfires in the Brazilian Amazon: a multi-region assessment', Biodiversity and Conservation, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 513-529. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-012-0426-8

APA

Silveira, J. M., Barlow, J., Andrade, R. B., Louzada, J., Mestre, L. A., Lacau, S., Zanetti, R., Numata, I., & Cochrane, M. A. (2013). The responses of leaf litter ant communities to wildfires in the Brazilian Amazon: a multi-region assessment. Biodiversity and Conservation, 22(2), 513-529. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-012-0426-8

Vancouver

Silveira JM, Barlow J, Andrade RB, Louzada J, Mestre LA, Lacau S et al. The responses of leaf litter ant communities to wildfires in the Brazilian Amazon: a multi-region assessment. Biodiversity and Conservation. 2013 Feb;22(2):513-529. doi: 10.1007/s10531-012-0426-8

Author

Silveira, Juliana M. ; Barlow, Jos ; Andrade, Rafael B. et al. / The responses of leaf litter ant communities to wildfires in the Brazilian Amazon : a multi-region assessment. In: Biodiversity and Conservation. 2013 ; Vol. 22, No. 2. pp. 513-529.

Bibtex

@article{2bac60b8f81e4a46bd4591469563c722,
title = "The responses of leaf litter ant communities to wildfires in the Brazilian Amazon: a multi-region assessment",
abstract = "Fire is frequently used as tool for land management in the Amazon, but often escapes into surrounding forests, with potentially severe impacts for forest biodiversity. We investigated the effects of single wildfires on ant communities in four geographically distinct regions of the Brazilian Amazon (Roraima, Para, Acre and Mato Grosso) where forests had burned between 8 months and 10 years before our sampling. We established 7-12 transects, 500 m each, in burned and unburned forests in each region to investigate the effects of fire on forest structure and leaf litter ant communities, which were sampled using Winkler sacks. Fire effects on forest structure were more drastic in the most recently burned forests in Acre and Mato Grosso, while the impacts of older burns in Roraima and Para were more subtle. Ant species richness was not different between burnt and unburned areas, but community composition differed between burned and control forests in all regions except Mato Grosso. At the species level, indicator species analysis showed that a limited number of species were significant indicators of unburned control forests in all regions, except Acre. Forests structure variables and leaf litter volume were all important in shaping ant communities, but their relative importance varied between regions. Our results indicate that burned forest have different ant species communities from unburned forests, and those differences are still apparent 10 years after the disturbance, highlighting the importance of effective policies for fire management in Amazon.",
keywords = "Tropical forest, DOMINANT ANTS, EXPERIMENTAL FIRE REGIMES, Winkler sack, SAVANNA, BIODIVERSITY, NORMALIZED BURN RATIO, NORTHERN AUSTRALIA, SPECIES RICHNESS, TROPICAL FORESTS, Brazil, Community ecology, CLIMATE-CHANGE, Disturbance, VEGETATION",
author = "Silveira, {Juliana M.} and Jos Barlow and Andrade, {Rafael B.} and Julio Louzada and Mestre, {Luiz A.} and Sebastien Lacau and Ronald Zanetti and Izaya Numata and Cochrane, {Mark A.}",
year = "2013",
month = feb,
doi = "10.1007/s10531-012-0426-8",
language = "English",
volume = "22",
pages = "513--529",
journal = "Biodiversity and Conservation",
issn = "0960-3115",
publisher = "Springer Netherlands",
number = "2",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - The responses of leaf litter ant communities to wildfires in the Brazilian Amazon

T2 - a multi-region assessment

AU - Silveira, Juliana M.

AU - Barlow, Jos

AU - Andrade, Rafael B.

AU - Louzada, Julio

AU - Mestre, Luiz A.

AU - Lacau, Sebastien

AU - Zanetti, Ronald

AU - Numata, Izaya

AU - Cochrane, Mark A.

PY - 2013/2

Y1 - 2013/2

N2 - Fire is frequently used as tool for land management in the Amazon, but often escapes into surrounding forests, with potentially severe impacts for forest biodiversity. We investigated the effects of single wildfires on ant communities in four geographically distinct regions of the Brazilian Amazon (Roraima, Para, Acre and Mato Grosso) where forests had burned between 8 months and 10 years before our sampling. We established 7-12 transects, 500 m each, in burned and unburned forests in each region to investigate the effects of fire on forest structure and leaf litter ant communities, which were sampled using Winkler sacks. Fire effects on forest structure were more drastic in the most recently burned forests in Acre and Mato Grosso, while the impacts of older burns in Roraima and Para were more subtle. Ant species richness was not different between burnt and unburned areas, but community composition differed between burned and control forests in all regions except Mato Grosso. At the species level, indicator species analysis showed that a limited number of species were significant indicators of unburned control forests in all regions, except Acre. Forests structure variables and leaf litter volume were all important in shaping ant communities, but their relative importance varied between regions. Our results indicate that burned forest have different ant species communities from unburned forests, and those differences are still apparent 10 years after the disturbance, highlighting the importance of effective policies for fire management in Amazon.

AB - Fire is frequently used as tool for land management in the Amazon, but often escapes into surrounding forests, with potentially severe impacts for forest biodiversity. We investigated the effects of single wildfires on ant communities in four geographically distinct regions of the Brazilian Amazon (Roraima, Para, Acre and Mato Grosso) where forests had burned between 8 months and 10 years before our sampling. We established 7-12 transects, 500 m each, in burned and unburned forests in each region to investigate the effects of fire on forest structure and leaf litter ant communities, which were sampled using Winkler sacks. Fire effects on forest structure were more drastic in the most recently burned forests in Acre and Mato Grosso, while the impacts of older burns in Roraima and Para were more subtle. Ant species richness was not different between burnt and unburned areas, but community composition differed between burned and control forests in all regions except Mato Grosso. At the species level, indicator species analysis showed that a limited number of species were significant indicators of unburned control forests in all regions, except Acre. Forests structure variables and leaf litter volume were all important in shaping ant communities, but their relative importance varied between regions. Our results indicate that burned forest have different ant species communities from unburned forests, and those differences are still apparent 10 years after the disturbance, highlighting the importance of effective policies for fire management in Amazon.

KW - Tropical forest

KW - DOMINANT ANTS

KW - EXPERIMENTAL FIRE REGIMES

KW - Winkler sack

KW - SAVANNA

KW - BIODIVERSITY

KW - NORMALIZED BURN RATIO

KW - NORTHERN AUSTRALIA

KW - SPECIES RICHNESS

KW - TROPICAL FORESTS

KW - Brazil

KW - Community ecology

KW - CLIMATE-CHANGE

KW - Disturbance

KW - VEGETATION

U2 - 10.1007/s10531-012-0426-8

DO - 10.1007/s10531-012-0426-8

M3 - Journal article

VL - 22

SP - 513

EP - 529

JO - Biodiversity and Conservation

JF - Biodiversity and Conservation

SN - 0960-3115

IS - 2

ER -