Early view

Kerkache Hayet, Aissat Lyes, Derdoukh Wafa

Abstract

Ants (Formicidae) play critical ecological roles in agroecosystems; however, their dynamics across various crops and seasons are still not well understood in Mediterranean fruit-tree landscapes of North Africa. This study examines the effects of crop type and seasons on ant diversity and community composition in the Soummam Valley's agroecosystems (Algeria). Pitfall traps were used to sample ant assemblages in citrus, fig, olive, and pear orchards over the winter, summer, and autumn seasons (2019-2020). 24 species were identified (16 genera, 4 subfamilies) and examined diversity patterns using GLM, NMDS, and PERMANOVA. Our findings demonstrate significant seasonal variation, with the highest species richness in summer and autumn compared to winter. Fig orchards showed the highest total diversity, whereas Pear orchards displayed the highest abundance but the lowest diversity, indicating substantial domination by a few species; however, because each crop type was represented by a single orchard, these differences cannot be attributed exclusively to crop type. In the PERMANOVA, neither crop type (R² = 0.300, p = 0.294) nor season (R² = 0.272, p = 0.128) significantly explained overall community composition (full additive model: R² = 0.571, p = 0.175), and a Crop × Season interaction was not tested. The NMDS showed extensive overlap among the seasonal assemblages (with more dispersed winter assemblages), which is compatible with a shared core of Mediterranean generalist species. These results provide baseline data on ant assemblages in Algerian fruit-tree agroecosystems and highlight the need for replicated, orchard-level studies to assess how crop type and management affect ant-mediated ecosystem services such as natural pest control.

Keywords

Agroecosystems, Biodiversity, Myrmecology, Seasonality, Soummam Valley

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