Association of the Occurrence of Ant Species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with Soil Attributes, Vegetation, and Climate in the Brazilian Savanna Northeastern Region

Ants occur in all strata of tropical forest by nesting, foraging and interacting with plants and other resident in these habitats. It is know that a large number of ant species live in the leaflitter and soil. This study aim to know if the occurrence of the species of ants from Cerrado of the Northeastern State of Maranhao depends on the attributes of soils and climatic factors. We found 48 species of ants, and ten of them had highest importance value, and are correlated with the soil properties, litter biomass, basal area, humidity and temperature, by using principal component analysis (PCA). The soil properties (density, porosity, particle size, aggregate stability index, and levels of Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ , carbon and potential acidity); vegetation (basal area and dry mass of litter) and temperature and humidity at soil level affect the occurrence of the following ants species Camponotus comatulus Mackay, 2010, Ectatomma muticum Mayr, 1870, Pseudomyrmex boopis (Roger, 1863), Pseudomyrmex termitarius (Smith, 1855), Dinoponera gigantea (Peerty, 1833), Ochetomyrmex neopolitus Fernandez, 2003 , Crematogaster cf acuta , Pheidole casta Wheeler, 1908, Solenopsis bruesi Creighton, 1930 and Solenopsis. Substituta Santschi, 1925 .