Changes in the Ant Assemblage of Pine–Birch Forest upon Removal of the Nests of Dominant Species

摘要

Anthropogenic impact on the environment in urbanized areas is growing stronger, and its conse-quences include an increase in the amounts of harmful emissions and recreational pressure, accidental or intentional introduction of alien species, and extermi-nation of indigenous species. Any of these events lead to changes in the initial structure of biocenosis and interspecific relationships (Kozlov, 1990; Neverova and Eremeeva, 2006). This fully applies to social ani-mals such as ants. Thus, when the ant Formica aquilo-nia is introduced into a multispecies association dom-inated by Lasius niger, the former species gains domi-nance and thereby markedly changes the community structure, with the influence of the dominant being experienced primarily by subdominant species and, to a lesser extent, by ants of lower ranks (Demchenko, 1979, 1980).