OSTEOLOGY AND RELATIONSHIPS OF ITALOELOPS FOREYI FROM THE ALBIAN LOWER CRETACEOUS OF PIETRAROJA CAMPANIA, SOUTHERN ITALY
January 1, 2024 - Castro-delgado, Silvia rocio; Colla, Andrea
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EmailJournal or Book Title: Atti del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Trieste
Abstract: Urbanization and seasonal changes affect biodiversity. However, urban green areas are critical habitats to support biological communities. Ants are a very important group, due to their high abundance, their participation in many ecological processes and, above all, because they provide ecosystem services in natural and urban habitats. Still, this group has not been sufficiently studied, especially in urban landscapes. In this research, we evaluated the ant communities in six urban green areas of Trieste (here named Bosco Bovedo (BB), Bosco Farneto 01 (BF1), Bosco Farneto 02 (BF2), Giardino Pubblico (GP), Museo (Mu) and Orto Lapidario (OL)) repeatedly for three periods, and one (Villa Necker (VN)) for only one period, in 2018. In total, 38 species of ants were recorded, of which four species were not considered in the analyses. Overall, the two most common ant species resulted: Aphaenogaster subterranea (Latreille, 1798) and Crematogaster schmidti (Mayr, 1853). The urban green areas with the highest species richness, the highest Shannon diversity and the highest number of occurrences were Mu and OL, both with the highest structural heterogeneity provided by the high diversity of plants and the presence of stones. C. schmidti was mainly present in woodlands, while the number of occurrences of Lasius emarginatus (Olivier, 1792) was higher in the urban parks and managed mixed green area (GP and OL, respectively). When analyzing the results in a temporal manner, it was observed that species richness, number of occurrences and diversity of Shannon decreased in the period July-August, the hottest months. Some species were no longer recorded in this period, others decreased their presence, while others increased it. However, the decrease in these variables in this period was not abrupt in the OL and Mu compared to the other areas. Urban green areas are essential for maintaining diversity, especially when urbanization and global warming are expected to continue their increase. This research is a picture of the ant community present in 2018. Since social ecological systems are dynamic and unpredictable, a future monitoring program could help to prevent the degradation of the integrity of these areas and the services they provide to humans.
Type of Publication: Article