Agri-environmental schemes (AES) of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) aims at reversing negative effects agricultural intensification on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Landscape context may modulate, even constraint, AES effectiveness. We evaluate effectiveness ant abundance, diversity community composition. Ants are an ecologically dominant group whose response to conservation efforts...

Harvester ants are known as one of the most renowned bio-disturbances in the arid and semi-arid ecosystems that affecte vegetation by collecting seeds and harvesting plants. It seems that physiognomy of plant association in steppe shrub land of Roodshoor, Saveh, Iran has been highly changed by harvester ants’ activities that caused to conduct this research. The study was carried out on active a...

background: qeshm (26.75n, 55.82e), iran, is 1500 km² island in the strait of hormuz. qeshm is a free trade zone, acting as an important channel for international commerce, and has been the site of much recent development. there is potential risk of stinging ant attacks for residents and visitors that may occur in the island. the aims of this study were to find out the fauna, dispersion, and so...

BACKGROUND Qeshm (26.75N, 55.82E), Iran, is 1500 km² island in the Strait of Hormuz. Qeshm is a free trade zone, acting as an important channel for international commerce, and has been the site of much recent development. There is potential risk of stinging ant attacks for residents and visitors that may occur in the island. The aims of this study were to find out the fauna, dispersion, and som...

We investigated the role of the pygidial gland on foraging behavior in two ecologically dominant column foraging Nearctic harvesting ants (Messor pergandei and Messor andrei). Using chemical analyses and behavioral tests, we show that n-tridecane is the major biologically active compound of pygidial gland secretions in both species, and that this chemical functions as a powerful alarm-recruitme...

There is anecdotal evidence for profound behavioral changes prior to and during earthquakes in many organisms, including arthropods such as ants. Behavioral or physiological analysis has often, in light of these reports, been proposed as a means of earthquake prediction. We report here a serendipitous study of the effect of the powerful Landers earthquake in the Mojave Desert, USA (Richter magn...

We investigated the roles of habitat fragmentation and the invasion of an exotic species on the structure of ground-foraging ant communities in 40 scrub habitat fragments in coastal southern California. In particular, we asked: how do fragment age, fragment size, amount of urban edge, percentage of native vegetation, degree of isolation, and the relative abundance of an exotic species, the Arge...