Credit
We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
The Wambiana grazing trial is co-funded by DAF and Meat and Livestock Australia. We are deeply grateful to the Lyons family, Wambiana, for hosting the trial site.
Purpose
Ants are Australia’s dominant faunal group in terms of biomass and energy flow. They occupy all trophic levels, act as ecosystem engineers, feature in many mutualistic interactions with plants, and are a key food resource for many vertebrates. Ants are also Australia’s best studied insect group in terms of biogeography and community dynamics. They are the most widely used invertebrate bio-indicators in environmental assessment and monitoring.
Lineage
Data Creation
Ant sampling:
Twenty pitfall traps are placed in a standard grid (4 x 5) with 10 m spacing within plots in permanent positions marked with PVC tubes (or inverted traps). If the position on the grid is occupied by a tree or rock then the trap is placed adjacent to it. Trapping is conducted over 3 days with traps sealed with screw cap at the end of the period. Any dirt, plant material or other debris is removed as contaminating material can stain the ants if left with them for extended periods. Tubes be stored in the dark as light will cause colours to fade and the cuticle or integument will deteriorate over time, greatly reducing the usefulness of the material for taxonomic studies and making identifications difficult or impossible.
Traps are buried with lips completely flush with the soil surface.
Sealed pitfall traps are sent to a central processing laboratory where contents are transferred to ethanol for long term storage. Non-ant by-catch is stored for future reference.
Ant abundance and incidence was pooled at the site level.
Ant species identification:
Ant specimens were identified and curated at the CSIRO's Tropical Ecosystems Research Centre in Darwin by Dr Alan Andersen.
Authors
Point of Contact
Publisher
Method Documentation