Litter ants: diversity and composition in Megamalai, Western Ghats

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Research Paper 01/12/2013
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Litter ants: diversity and composition in Megamalai, Western Ghats

S. Selvarani, C. Amutha
Int. J. Biosci.3( 12), 180-186, December 2013.
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Abstract

Diversity and composition of litter ants in Megamalai, Western Ghats was investigated in the present study. The study reveals that, tropical evergreen forest has more number of individuals compared to openrock with grassland, tropical moist deciduous forest and tropical dry deciduous forest. The diversity analysis reveals that, the simpson and Shannon diversity indices was higher during November and October in tropical evergreen forest as well as open rock with grassland accordingly. In the case of tropical dry and moist deciduous forests, it was in the month of February and December respectively. Among the study months, the species distribution was found even in the month of February followed by August in tropical evergreen forest, while it was dry deciduous forest, it was in the month of January (0.7622). Thus, the study reveals higher species abundance and diversity in tropical evergreen forest than other study sites.

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