Publication Date:
2024-01-12
Description:
Ants in roadside verges on the Veluwe: species richness and recommendations for management\n(Hymenoptera: Formicidae)\nHighway verges in the Veluwe region contain some well developed nutrient poor plant\ncommunities, like grasslands, grey hair grass vegetation and heather vegetation. These places\nprovide a good habitat for ants. The past five years, we made an inventory of the ants in these\nroad verges. We found 35 species, which is more than 50% of the Dutch ant fauna and\napproximately 80% of the species known from the Veluwe. Among these were iucn red list\nspecies (Anergates atratulus, Myrmica hirsuta, Formicoxenus nitidulus, Formica pratensis, F. rufa/\npolyctena), species protected by Dutch law (F. pratensis, F. rufa/polyctena, F. truncorum),\nnationally rare species (Strongylognathus testaceus, Myrmica schenckioides), and species rare in the\nregion (Lasius mixtus, L. sabularum, Ponera coarctata). In this paper, we present the localities\nwhere each species has been found. In addition, we provide recommendations on how to\nmanage the road verges in an ant friendly manner. The nutrient poor zone in the road verges\nshould be maximalized with mosaics of low vegetations. This should be done by fine scale and\nphased management. If large scale management is necessary, like the removal of most vegetation\nor the top soil, vegetation refugia should be left intact, from which ants can spread again. The\nhabitat around red wood ant nests should always be left intact. By creating connections with\nlow vegetation between heathlands and driftsands and the verges, the verges will function best as\nextensions of existing habitats and they may act as corridors between different nature reserves.
Keywords:
mieren
;
Formicidae
;
verspreiding
;
Nederland
;
beheer
Repository Name:
National Museum of Natural History, Netherlands
Type:
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Format:
application/pdf
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