Short-term responses by ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) to selective timber harvesting of an open forest in eastern Australia

Abstract

In order to determine how timber harvesting might affect the ant community in a Corymbia variegata dominated open forest, the surface-active ant community was quantified by pitfall trapping at two sites and on three occasions over a period of 12 months. At the end of this period, the trees in some plots were experimentally harvested while others remained undisturbed. Pitfall trapping continued for another 12 months at all plots which permitted a comparison between the pre-harvest ant communities and post-harvest ant communities. Using a combination of univariate and multivariate analyses, only small differences could be detected in ant community composition in harvested plots when compared with unharvested plots, indicating that timber harvesting operations such as the ones examined in this study have only a small effect on the structure of the ant community.