Meeting Abstract
Borneo is home to 1/16th of the world’s ant diversity; however, intensive land use and agricultural practices are destroying forests at an accelerating pace. In 2014, UNESCO designated the Crocker Range as a Man and Biosphere region, which restricted development in core forests entirely and minimized development and impacts in surrounding buffer forests. We examined the efficacy of these zones in maintaining leaf litter ant biodiversity core and buffer highland rainforests in Summer 2019. We sampled leaf litter ant communities at twelve sites (N = 6 buffer; N = 6 core). Each grid was separated by > 50 m and consisted of 16 one-meter quadrats. Leaf litter was sifted using leaf litter extractors and then hung in Berlese funnels for 48 hours. Extracted ants were stored in ethanol, point mounted, and identified to genus using local taxonomic keys. Ant biodiversity in core and buffer forests was similar, and ant activity was highest in buffer forests. Species richness among sites was patchy. Our data support the continued use of zone stratification in these forests as an effective means of maintaining biodiversity reserves.
