In order to determine the suitability of ants as indicator organisms for habitat disruption in tropical forests, we studied the effects of both high and low impact logging on ant communities in northeastern Pará State, in the Brazilian Amazon. We collected ants from logged forests and unlogged forest sites with Winkler bags throughout the 1998 rainy season (January and April) and the following dry season (July and September). Both methods of timber harvesting showed impacts on ant community composition when compared with unlogged forest, although these impacts did not include modifications in total species richness or the relative contribution of each ant subfamily to the total number of species. Instead, logging induced alterations took place at the level of species and genera. A 2-fold reduction in the dominance of ants of the highly diverse genus Pheidole was associated with forest alterations in high-impact logging sites. Thus, logging in Amazonia can be seen to promote species shifts in ant communities, without, however, altering species richness. Ants of the genus Pheidole are potentially useful indicators for forest disturbances resulting from timber extraction.
Redução de emissões de carbono associadas ao desmatamento no Brasil: o papel do Programa Áreas Protegidas da Amazônia (ARPA).
Redução de emissões de carbono associadas ao desmatamento no Brasil: o papel do Programa Áreas Protegidas da Amazônia (ARPA).
A avaliação da contribuição do Programa ARPA na redução das emissões de gases do efeito estufa que se constitui o principal objetivo deste estudo. Utilizando-se de análises das taxas históricas de desmatamento, entre 1997 e 2007, e de estimativas das taxas futuras,...