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Biogeography and evolution of Melanesian and South Pacific ants
MATOS MARAVÍ, Pável Fortunato
This thesis investigates the systematics, biogeography, and diversification dynamics of a large and ecologically important insect group in SE Asia and the Indo-Pacific region: the ants. This study utilizes a multidisciplinary framework to elucidate the evolutionary history of selected ant clades with the overall aim to shed light on similar ecological and evolutionary processes intervening in ant diversity.
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Preferences of the basic components of food by central European speciens of ants.
NOSKOVÁ, Lenka
This thesis has two parts: the first brings an overview of the role of various foods and nutrients in ants, the second presents the results of an experiment focused on preference of the basic components of food by central European species of ants. In the experiment we provided ants with six different baits (water, 1% sodium chlorid, olive oil, 20% amino acid glutamine, artificial honey [10% sucrose + 10% amino acid] and 20% sucrose). Total, 187 of 690 traps were visited by ants. There were 26 recorded species of ants. Preference of four most abundant species differed. F. polyctena attended most of the offered baits, while other species preferred the sugar components. In general, ants preferred artificial honey and sucrose, regardless of the season and habitats. Additional field tests with different bait concentration of salt and sucrose showed the same preferences regardless of bait type and no additive effects of the amino acid in the sucrose baits. The results of the experiment show a surprisingly consistent and strong preference of central European species of ants for sugars.
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Nest building activity and bioturbation of the ant \kur{ Lasius niger} (L.).
TŮMA, Jiří
The ant building activity of the nest represents an important phenomenon, influencing ambient environment. If we want to know, which factors are affecting this process, we will describe its details. This paper aims to detrmine the factors which influence nest building activity, by an experiment using the species of Lasius niger (L.) in the artifical formicaria.
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Educational program about ants aimed to students of primary school
PAPEŽOVÁ, Nikola
This bachelor thesis is called Educational program about the ants focused on the students of elementary schools as a proposal of science educational paths. The educational paths should be used for general public as well as complement of teaching science for the second level of Primary school and for the adequate classes of High schools. In the first part of my bachelor thesis I tried to describe a teaching methods and some forms of using educational paths. Additionaly, I consider on the types, distinguish and a history of educational paths in the Czech Republic and using of the educational paths for children. One part of the thesis draws attention on general characteristics of the ants. The second part of my bachelor thesis contents the proposal of the texts of individual stations and working sheets. I suggested a text for the ten stations. These stations give information about the life of the ants. The educational path is called "In the footsteps of the ants". The aim of my thesis is drawing attention to the world of the ants and by this way I would like to arouse interest for people who are interested in the nature.
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Ants as dispersers of seeds in meadow vegetation
KONEČNÁ, Marie
Seed dispersal by ants was investigated in a wet meadow. Vegetation and viable seed bank of places with and without ant-hill were compared. The response of ants to the presence of elaiosom on seeds of myrmecochorous plant Pedicularis sylvatica was observed.
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Diversity and ecology of arboreal ant communities in a tropical lowland forest
KLIMEŠ, Petr
The thesis focuses on the study of arboreal ant communities in a highly diverse tropical rainforest in Papua New Guinea. In the first study of its kind, whole patches of forest were sampled extensively for ants foraging and nesting in tree trunks and canopies. An extraordinary amount of material collected from 684 felled trees and 260 bait stations in plots of primary and secondary forest was used to study the mechanisms structuring the diversity and species coexistence of this ecologically important insect group at the local scale. The first chapter addresses the question "Why are ant communities more species rich in primary than in secondary forests?" and explores the main environmental traits that influence their diversity in tropical trees. The second chapter compares the community diversity and composition and nesting preferences of ant species between both forest types. The final third chapter introduces a novel method, involving large-scale manipulation of ant communities that could serve as a template for future studies focused on complex tropical food-webs of canopy arthropods and plants. In summary, the results of the thesis highlight the importance of primary vegetation in conserving the diversity of native ant communities and the relevance of nesting microhabitats and their turnover between trees, rather than tree taxonomic diversity, for sustaining the diverse arboreal fauna in tropical forests.
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