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Quantitative Inventories of Ants from India:Gaps, Prospects and Recommendations


Affiliations
1 Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Jakkur Post, Bengaluru 560 064, India
 

India is regarded as one of the highly diverse but data-deficient regions in terms of ant diversity. Despite a number of studies, patterns in diversity of ants in India are still unclear. Through a review of recent Indian studies based on samples of ground dwelling ants, we highlight reasons that may underestimate diversity and hinder comparisons. This study shows that recent developments in sampling ant assemblages and analysis of the data have not sufficiently ischolar_mained in India. In addition, several geographic areas are still under-explored and need further attention. Therefore, it is important that future inventories adapt methods that facilitate comparison of data. In this regard, we provide results that reiterate some of the important developments in designing effective inventories for ants. The appraisal of data through such methods is expected to improve the knowledge about Indian ant fauna and its distribution.

Keywords

Ant Sampling, ALL-Protocol, Arunachal Pradesh, Inventory of Ants.
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  • Quantitative Inventories of Ants from India:Gaps, Prospects and Recommendations

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Authors

Aniruddha Marathe
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Jakkur Post, Bengaluru 560 064, India
Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Jakkur Post, Bengaluru 560 064, India

Abstract


India is regarded as one of the highly diverse but data-deficient regions in terms of ant diversity. Despite a number of studies, patterns in diversity of ants in India are still unclear. Through a review of recent Indian studies based on samples of ground dwelling ants, we highlight reasons that may underestimate diversity and hinder comparisons. This study shows that recent developments in sampling ant assemblages and analysis of the data have not sufficiently ischolar_mained in India. In addition, several geographic areas are still under-explored and need further attention. Therefore, it is important that future inventories adapt methods that facilitate comparison of data. In this regard, we provide results that reiterate some of the important developments in designing effective inventories for ants. The appraisal of data through such methods is expected to improve the knowledge about Indian ant fauna and its distribution.

Keywords


Ant Sampling, ALL-Protocol, Arunachal Pradesh, Inventory of Ants.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv114%2Fi04%2F861-867