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Title: | A pest is a pest is a pest? The dilemma of neotropical leaf-cutting ants: Keystone taxa of natural ecosystems |
Authors: | Fowler, Harold Gordon Pagani, Maria Inez Silva, Osvaldo Aulino da Fo?ti, Luiz Carlos Silva, Virgilio Pereira da Vasconcelos, Heraldo Luis de |
Keywords: | Environmental Engineering Insect Control Ants Keystone Taxa Ecosystems Agriculture Ant Arthropod Environment Nonhuman Pest Control South And Central America Vegetation Acromyrmex Arthropoda Atta Formicidae Insecta Ant Keystone Species Leaf-cutting Ant Pest |
Issue Date: | 1989 |
metadata.dc.publisher.journal: | Environmental Management |
metadata.dc.relation.ispartof: | Volume 13, Número 6, Pags. 671-675 |
Abstract: | Leaf-cutting ants of the genera Acromyrmex and Atta are considered the principal polyphagous pests of the Neotropics Although some members of these genera are of economic importance, have a broad geographic distribution, and are extremely good colonizers, others are endemic and closely interact with native ecosystems. Control is generally practiced against any colony, irrespective of its taxonomic status. Indiscriminate control coupled with habitat destruction threatens endemic species with extinction, and, through habitat simplification, favors other pest species. As nests of Atta are large, having several square meters of nest surface, the endemic taxa can be easily used as environmental indicators for natural ecosystems Likewise, the pest species can be used to detect environmental disturbance As these ants are keystone species and easily identified by nonspecialists, efforts should be made to integrate these into viable conservation programs © 1989 Springer-Verlag New York Inc. |
metadata.dc.identifier.doi: | 10.1007/BF01868306 |
Appears in Collections: | Artigos |
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