<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xml><records><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Azcárate, Francisco M.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Peco, Begoña</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Abandonment of grazing in a mediterranean grassland area: consequences for ant assemblages</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Insect Conservation and Diversity</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">ant functional groups</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Ants</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Granivory</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">grazing abandonment</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">mediterranean grasslands</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2012</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2012///</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1752-4598.2011.00165.x</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">5</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">279 - 288</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1. Abandonment of traditional activities in the rural areas is widespread in the developed world, and in the case of grazing, it is known to have negative consequences on the diversity of plant communities. Few studies have examined the impact of grazing abandonment on fauna, which in the case of ants is of considerable interest, given their usefulness as an indicator for monitoring environmental change. 2. Here, we present the results of a study conducted in Mediterranean grasslands of central Spain. Using pitfall traps, ants were sampled from 10 40 m· 20 m plots; ﬁve of them located in grazed systems and ﬁve in abandoned grazing systems. Descriptors used for the ant assemblage were ant species composition, ant species richness, ant functional groups, and subguilds of granivores. We used a seed bait test to discriminate between granivorous and non-granivorous ant species. 3. Our results show that abandoned grazing systems have more ant species and more heterogeneous ant assemblages. Changes in ant species composition and ant functional groups are more pronounced in habitats where woody encroachment progresses more rapidly (i.e. dry sectors and tree islands). Specialised granivores have reduced importance in the same habitat types. Conversely, facultative granivores increase their presence in abandoned grazing systems. 4. The increased functional and species ant diversity observed with grazing abandonment can be explained by the generation of a more heterogeneous environment at the smaller scales, in spite of being more homogenous at the larger scales, because the latter are less signiﬁcant for the organisms studied</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">4</style></issue></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Arnan, Xavier</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Rodrigo, Anselm</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Retana, Javier</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Post-fire recovery of Mediterranean ground ant communities follows vegetation and dryness gradients</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Journal of Biogeography</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Ants</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">diversity</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">dryness gradient</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">forest type</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Mediterranean communities</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">post-ﬁre recovery</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">resilience</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Species richness</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">ﬁre</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2006</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2006///</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2006.01506.x</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">33</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1246 - 1258</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Aim In the Mediterranean Basin, the main forest communities vary in their ability to recover after ﬁre. In this study we analyse the effects of ﬁre on ant communities occurring in various vegetation types distributed along a geographical gradient in the western Mediterranean region. Location The study was carried out in burned and unburned habitats of 22 sites corresponding to eight vegetation types distributed along a gradient of dryness throughout Catalonia (north-east Spain). Methods We placed ﬁve pairs of plots (one plot located in the burned area and the second one placed in the unburned margin) per site. We compared ant communities in these unburned and burned plot types 8 years after ﬁre using pitfall traps. Traps were set out in mid-May and mid-July. We analysed the structure and composition of ant communities in the burned and unburned areas of these vegetation types using anova tests, correspondence analysis (CA) and linear regression. Results The resilience of ant communities varies with vegetation type. Ant communities in forests with high resilience also recover rapidly after ﬁre, while those in forests that do not recover after ﬁre show the lowest resilience. Species richness does not depend on burning or vegetation type. The resilience of these Mediterranean ant communities to ﬁre is related to the environmental characteristics of the region where they live. Accordingly, differences between burned and unburned habitats are smaller for ant communities in areas with higher water deﬁcit in summer than for those in moister ones. Main conclusions The structure and composition of ant communities after ﬁre depends on the level of direct mortality caused by the ﬁre. It affects ant species differently, as determined by the habitats used for nesting and foraging. The reestablishment of vegetation cover depends on forest composition before the ﬁre. As vegetation cover determines resource and microhabitat availability and competitive relationships among species, forest composition before the ﬁre also affects post-ﬁre recovery of ant communities to the medium-term. Finally, ant communities living in drier areas recover more quickly after ﬁre than those living in moister ones. This pattern might be because in areas with higher water deﬁcit there are more species characteristic of open environments, which are habitats similar to those generated after ﬁre.</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">7</style></issue></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Cammell, M. E.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Way, M. J.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Paiva, M. R.</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Diversity and structure of ant communities associated with oak, pine, eucalyptus and arable habitats in Portugal</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Insectes Sociaux</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Ants</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">community ecology</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">diversity</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Dominance</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Linepithema humile</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Portugal.</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1996</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1996///</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">http://www.springerlink.com/index/v518x231464x7788.pdf</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">46</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">37 - 46</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">In central Portugal, 28 species of ants were found in oak, 25 in pine, 35 in eucalyptus and 12 in arable habitats, a total of 43 species. They include five numerically dominant species, the exotic Argentine ant. Linepithema (Iridomyrmex) humile and four native species, Crematogaster scutel- laris, Pheidole pallidula, Tapinoma nigerrimum and Tetramorium hispanicum. L. humile occurred in 34 % of sampled sites. When present, it was abundant in all three arboreal habitats, where it was associated with strikingly decreased ant species richness and equitability. Such diversity was greater in L. humile - colonised arable habitats, where the ant was much less abundant than in the arboreal habitats. Where L. humile was absent, C. scutellaris and P pallidula were usually co-dominants in oak and pine, and T. nigerrimum and T. hispanicum in the arable habitat, but all were absent or rare in eucalyptus. Ants were numerically least abundant in eucalyptus but, in the absence of L. humile, species richness was greater and the community more equitable than in the other habitats. L. humile - absent arable habitats supported the poorest and least equitable ant community.</style></abstract></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Acosta, F. J.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">López, F.</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Serrano, J. M.</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">The dynamics of a therophytic community in relation to self-regulation, herbivores and environmental variation</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Vegetatio</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Ants</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Environmental influence</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Granivory</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Grasses</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Markovian models</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Vegetation dynamics</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1992</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1992///</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/BF00031637</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">98</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">59 - 71</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">The dynamics of a therophytic plant community in Central Spain has been studied, taking into account endogenous and exogenous factors. Using a simplified descriptive resolution a multi-species grass community and four canopy density types have been described in permanent quadrats. Transition matrices expressing the changes of vegetation state have been constructed. The importance of self- regulation was shown by the dependence of successive transitions on each other (highly significative log-linear models). The functioning cannot however be explained through a strict Markovian model because the transition probabilities are not stationary. The external local factors tested (microtopography, compactness and granivory) do not have a consistent effect on the vegetation dynamics, being variable over years, implying the importance of other more general factors on vegetation dynamics. Making transition probabilities dependent on external environmental factors rep</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1</style></issue></record></records></xml>