EFFECT OF INSECTICIDE TREATMENT ON ARBOREAL ANT COMMUNITY STRUCTURE IN SMALL HOLDER COCOA FARM IN...

The current study was done on Cameroonian cocoa plantations during two consecutive crop cycles to better understand the impact of anthropogenic disruptions, namely insecticide treatment, on ant population structure. Chemical knockdown was used to sample ants in three smallholding cocoa plantations in three different agro-ecological zones in Cameroon's Centre Region. For null model analysis, the C-score was utilised to detect deterministic factors of ant community structure, and the Spearman correlation test was employed to assess relationships between pair species. Crematogaster clariventris, Crematogaster gabonensis, Crematogaster striatula, Camponotus vividus, Cataulacus guineensis, Tetramorium aculeatum, and Oecophylla longinoda were identified as the numerically prevalent ant species. Ant communities were shaped by competition, and dominant species were found to have unfavourable relationships. Insecticide treatments influenced ant community structure by favouring non-dominant species gaining dominant status.

Please see the link :- https://www.ikprress.org/index.php/JOGEE/article/view/7145