ECOLOGICAL AND MICROTOPOGRAPHICAL IMPACT OF MESSOR EBENINUS AND MESSOR ARENARIUS ANTS ON ARID LOESS RANGELANDS OF THE NORTHERN NEGEV

Geography, Environment, Sustainability

A. Mor-Mussery¹  A. Budovsky² 

[1] Ben Gurion University of the Negev;Biotechnology Unit, Beer Sheva;

关键词: messor ebeninus and messor arenarius;    micro-topographic impacts;    ecosystem engineers;    rangeland management temporal changes;    shrub’ patches vs. ants’ nests;   

DOI  :  10.24057/2071-9388-2017-10-2-57-73

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Improper land management, such as over-grazing in arid areas, has negative effects on the local ecosystems for both the short and the long term time periods. An effective rehabilitation scheme requires human interference by introducing ecosystem engineering organisms together with activities that encourage the spreading and the reproduction of the local plant and animal species. Most of the former studies in arid lands focused on shrubs as engineering species, and much less on other organisms. The major focus of this study was on assessing the impact of Messor ebeninus and M. arenarius on the micro-topographic patterns of arid areas using unique spatial statistical tools designed solely for this purpose. As a case study, the nests’ sizes and their distribution were compared between two adjacent shrublands with similar geographic outlines during 2008 and 2015.One of the shrublands was moderately grazed for the last 20 years (at the far past it was exposed to over-grazing), while the other one is still exposed to over-grazing. The results collected in 2014 at the shrublands and at the adjacent loess area demonstrate the spatial ecosystem ability of the Messor sp. to engineer and beneficially modify their environment by enlarging the water conserving area, increasing the soil fertility and vegetative productivity, and finally accelerating the whole area rehabilitation.

【 授权许可】

Unknown