Research Abstract

The similarity of ant communities along a transect on Lizard Island

Specialized habitats existing in relatively small areas are characteristic of the tropics. This experiment examined four distinct vegetation types along a 1.77km transect on Lizard Island, Australia and asked several questions about the relationship of ant communities to four closely spaced yet distinct vegetation types. First, do the four distinct vegetation types along the transect support different communities of ants? More specifically, does each vegetation type support a different number of ant species? And are different ant species found at each site? These questions were examined by laying pitfalls in the four vegetation types and then categorizing the ants collected into morphospecies. It was found that some species existed in multiple areas, but there were also many species that were unique to one vegetation type. Analysis by use of the Jaccard Similarity Index showed that there was some overlap in the composition of the ant communities found in the four vegetation types. However by looking at the data it was also seen that different ant species were present in different environments.