Interações entre formigas e diásporos de espécies vegetais da Mata Atlântica na Reserva Biológica do Tinguá, Nova Iguaçu, RJ, Brasil

Abstract

The life diversity in our planet is the result not only of millions years of evolution but either of species interactions. Therefore, interactive biodiversity may be influenced as much by the own biological diversity as by environmental variables, over to vary in time and space. We established, in two differentes places in the ReBio Tinguá (placed in Submontana and Montana regions), two transects with 1 Km, being one transect for each place. When we found plants specimes with fruits, we observed the interactions between ants and diaspores through the observation station that consisted in a piece of white paper (6 x 6 cm) where the diaspores were deposited for faciliting ants visualizations. We either recorded two parameters: (1) the species envolved (plants and animal) and (2) the behavior of ants with the diaspores. We recorded a total of 460 interactions between ants and diaspores. From this number, 242 and 218 interactions formed approximately 66% and 61% of not repeated interactions. The genus Pheidole was more interactive, with a total of 73 and 64 interactions, being 64,4% and 59,4% of interactions not repeated, followed by the genus Solenopsis, with 61 and 53 total interactions, being 59% and 51% of interactions not repeated for the Submontana and Montana places of ReBio Tinguá, respectively. The environmental variables analises revealed significative difference for the variables: depth litter and relative ground humidity (t Test; p<0,05), edgely for ground temperature (p=0,069) and without difference for luminosity (p>0,05) for Submontana and Montana areas. However, comparing the two places observed through the myrmeco-fauna collected, we found 65% of similarity by the Jaccard Index and 78,8% by the Sorenson Index. The adaptations of species diversity indexes (Índice de Shanonn Wienner and Simpson Indexes) showed us the the interactions varyed in agreement with de frutification events without, however, to presente significantes seasonal differences. There wasn´t correlation for the environmental variables, the interactions diversity and the conectance (p>0,05). The month conectance values not showed a pattern, they varyed in time and space, however, the general conectance level was 20,4% (recorded in 12 months of observations in the ReBio Tinguá).