Abstract

AMAYA-HERNANDEZ, Laura Marcela et al. HERBIVORY OF Atta cephalotes (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) IN PATCHES OF TROPICAL DRY FOREST OF THE COLOMBIAN SOUTH-WEST REGION. Bol. Cient. Mus. Hist. Nat. Univ. Caldas [online]. 2019, vol.23, n.2, pp.171-189. ISSN 0123-3068.  https://doi.org/10.17151/bccm.2019.23.2.9.

In order to get a broad knowledge of the herbivory of the leaf cutting ant, Atta cephalotes, in the tropical dry forest, the foraging activity of twelve ant nests was studied in two patches of the dry forest: six in El Vínculo regional natural park in the Department of Valle del Cauca and six in La Pachuca in the Department of Cauca. From an inventory of nests present in each patch, a greater concentration of them was found in the edge and matrix area with respect to the interior of the patches being 84.11% for El Vínculo and 100% for La Pachuca. With the purpose of establishing if these areas offer more and better resources to the ants than the interior of the patches, a total of 300 leaf fragments that the ants transported were collected one meter from the main mound and 1.2 meters from the soil on the tree track in each nest between October 2015 and June 2016. Once the plant species were identified, the foliar area of these fragments were measured and weighed in their fresh and dry forms. In addition, different metric measures such as length, width and length of the foraging tracks were taken in each nest and the number of inactive and active mounds was made. It was found that the nests are founded at the edge and the matrix because they represent areas with initial successional processes that warrant the presence of pioneer plants with very palatable leaves and suitable for the consumption of the ants. The Fabaceae species was the most preferred. The foliar area of the plant fragments did not show significant differences between the diverse collections, nor among nests. On the other hand, the fresh and dry weight of the fragments collected was greater in the nests of El Vínculo forest patch and there were no significant differences among the number of leaf fragments collected on the foraging tracks. The number of active mounds was the only variable that presented statistical significance for the nests of La Pachuca forest patch. It is interpreted that the foraging activity is consistent in the different patches of dry forest that subsist in the southwestern region of Colombia.

Keywords : Leaf-cutting ants; nests; leaf area; fresh and dry weight.

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