Date of Award

7-16-2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Biology

First Advisor

Stephen Yanoviak

Abstract

Ants in the forest canopy are of special ecological interest due to their high diversity and ecological importance in this relatively inaccessible system. I explored the ecology of ants of temperate and tropical arboreal settings in Central Arkansas and Brazil respectively. I tested the hypothesis that biotic (e.g., tree identity) and abiotic (e.g., spatial distribution) factors regulate the diversity and composition of ants in the forest canopy, as well as the potential conservation benefits of agroforests in the tropics. In Arkansas, tree identity influenced ant species richness in tree crowns, in Brazil, ant species richness was significantly different between primary forest and agroforest. Tree spatial distribution and size did not affect ant species richness in forest canopies. My study provides some of the first comprehensive surveys of arboreal ants in these ecosystems. Future experiments should test hypotheses of diversity regulators and the behavioral ecology of arboreal ants in these canopies.

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