How to translate text using browser tools
1 December 2007 Commercial Agrochemical Applications in Vineyards Do Not Influence Ant Communities
Chee seng Chong, Ary A. Hoffmann, Linda J. Thomson
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Ants have been widely used as bioindicators for various terrestrial monitoring and assessment programs but are seldom considered in evaluation of nontarget pesticide effect. Much chemical assessment has been biased toward laboratory and bioassay testing for control of specific pest ant species. Several field studies that did explore the nontarget impacts of pesticides on ants have reported contradictory findings. To address the impact of chemical applications on ants, we tested the response of epigeal ant assemblages and community structure to three pesticide gradients (cumulative International Organization for Biological and Integrated Control toxicity rating, chlorpyrifos use rate, and sulfur use rate) in 19 vineyards. Ordination analyses using nonmetric multidimensional scaling detected community structures at species and genus levels, but the structures were not explained by any pesticide variables. There was no consistent pattern in species and genus percentage complementarities and ant assemblages along pesticide gradients. In contrast, ant community structure was influenced by the presence of shelterbelts near the sampling area. Reasons for the resilience of ants to pesticides are given and assessment at the colony level instead of workers abundance is suggested. The presence of Linepithema humile (Mayr) is emphasized.

Chee seng Chong, Ary A. Hoffmann, and Linda J. Thomson "Commercial Agrochemical Applications in Vineyards Do Not Influence Ant Communities," Environmental Entomology 36(6), 1374-1383, (1 December 2007). https://doi.org/10.1603/0046-225X(2007)36[1374:CAAIVD]2.0.CO;2
Received: 7 November 2006; Accepted: 5 July 2007; Published: 1 December 2007
JOURNAL ARTICLE
10 PAGES

This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
+ SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

KEYWORDS
chlorpyrifos
Formicidae
International Organization for Biological and Integrated Control
pesticide
sulfur
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top