Evaluating the Conservation Importance of Understory Vegetation in Eucalyptus Plantations for Ant Functional Groups

The functional relationship between ecosystem biodiversity and its functioning enables the categorization of organisms into guilds based on resource utilization, allowing for the assessment of biological diversity in modified environments over temporal scales, such as forest plantations. The present study sought to compare the composition of ant trophic guilds associated with the understory of eucalyptus stands at various stages of succession, aiming to determine whether turnover in species composition occurs within these guilds. We employed the Winkler extractor to collect litter ants in fifteen eucalyptus stands, ranging in age from 1.5 to 10.3 years. Our findings revealed the presence of fifteen ant guilds. The guild of small arboreal ants with massive recruitment exhibited a decline in species richness as the understory matured, while the guild of specialized predatory cryptic myrmicines demonstrated an increase in species richness in older stands. Camponotus crassus Mayr and Wasmannia auropunctata Roger were more prevalent in younger understory stands, whereas Pheidole fallax Mayr was predominantly found in native vegetation. Ants can serve as indicators of environmental conditions in eucalyptus plantations and contribute to environmental certification efforts. Our results demonstrate that eucalyptus plantations with understory vegetation effectively support the conservation of ant species over time, providing habitat for diverse ant guilds that utilize the available resources in this environment and may act as a species source for the surrounding landscape.