Anderson A (CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Darwin); Fisher A (Northern Territory Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment, Palmerston); Hoffman B; Read J (Western Mining Corporation Resources Ltd, Mt Isa); Richards B (NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation, Cobar)
0958101418
Rangelands; Savannas; Environmental management; Ecology; Biodiversity; Monitoring; Biological indicators; Indicator species; Invertebrates; Ants; Formicidae; Species abundance; Species diversity; Species differences; Spatial distribution; Community ecology; Population ecology; Research requirements; Sampling; Taxonomy; Case studies
A review of research using invertebrates, particularly ants, as bio-indicators in Australian landscapes demonstrates that they can be powerful environmental monitoring tools because of their abundance, diversity and functional importance, their sensitivity to perturbation and the ease with which they can be sampled. Vertebrates, by contrast, are too mobile, generalised or uncommon to be effective indicator taxa. In particular, ants have proven to be effective biological indicators of mine site rehabilitation works. A case study of a pilot rangeland biodiversity monitoring program at Cobar NSW indicates that ant species abundance, diversity and distribution are highly responsive to rangeland management. Woodland and grassland ant communities indicate clear gradients in relation to rangeland condition. Despite the progress using ants as bio-indicators, there are a number of outstanding research and development priorities for using them in rangeland monitoring. These include documenting the extent to which ants reflect the response of invertebrates more generally, identifying the most appropriate sampling protocols to achieve reliable results, improving ant identification technologies, and simplifying the collection of ant data (A).
