Importance of agricultural management for biodiversity: case of ants in sugar cane

Abstract

Given that ants respond to different practices, generated by agriculture, this paper analyses and compares information from two studies conducted in sugar cane fields of the Cauca Valley. In both studies, two lineal transects were situated in which ten equidistant (10 m) stations were placed for a total of 20 stations; each station had one tuna bait and one pitfall trap, that were operated for 83,3 and 441,6 continuous days, respectively. To predict and compare richness in sugar cane fields and their neighbouring siles, different richness estimators were used that work with species abundance; multiple comparisons analyses and cluster analyses were conducted. We captured 97 species distributed in 22 genera and 6 subfamilies. The richest sugar cane fields were those whose management had less impact on the soil and better care of adjacent siles. The sugar cane fields of El Hatico and Roma were more similar probably due to the regional effect that the habitat mosaic of the Reserve had on its surroundings, while El Medio and San Julian, which represent degraded conditions, were placed in another group. This analyses highlights the importance of sugar cane management as the dominant matrix in the Cauca Valley and the diversification of the landscape in order to preserve the biodiversity pf ant communities.