CONCLUSION

Ant species composition and their diversity patterns in different forest types at the Sharavathi river basin have been analysed in this study. This study emphasises the dominancy exhibited by the subfamily Myrmicinae within the ant communities, due to their ability to adapt to different niches with a variety of feeding habits. Dominancy exhibited by Ponerinae and Formicinae subfamilies in only certain habitats has been related to their very specific niche and food requirements. Habitats providing these specific niches were less frequently present. Results showed that the usually considered species deficient monocultures as acacia and pine plantations harbored certain ant species unique to their habitat, while truly arboreal ants were absent. Ants causing high diversity in such monocultures were those that are more generalistic in behavior. Behavioral data being sparse for ants represented by very few individuals, limits discussions. However, the absence of ants that thrived in moist deciduous and evergreen forests, which were specialists, suggests the lacking niches in plantations, dry deciduous forests and scrub jungles. The west radian, presents to the ants, larger number of niches than the others, suggesting, that though the western region was fragmented there still existed certain contiguous patches providing more niches for the ants (of all groups) to thrive, resulting in high species richness. Also, absence of certain species has revealed that the western region of the study area is under less degree of human stress compared to the other regions. We conclude by emphasising in classifying ants on the basis of their behavior than taxonomically, to pave way for further conservation and management programs. Further work in cataloguing the needs and requirements of different ant species to understand ant geography is in progress.