Distribution Rules of Ant Species in Dabashan Nature Reserve

To explore the diversity of ant fauna in the Dabashan National Nature Reserve of Chongqing Municipality, sample-plot method was applied to investigate the community composition and spatial distribution patterns of ant species in 33 sample plots along 6 vertical and 9 horizontal bands in Daba Moutains. The results showed that a total of 34 328 ant individuals were collected, which belonged to 59 species, 32 genera, and 5 subfamilies of Formicidae, and 24 species were new record species to Chongqing; 26 species (e.g. Formica cunicularia) had the narrowest range below 350 m, suggesting their low adaptivity to environment. At horizontal distribution, 24 species (e.g. Gnamptogenys panda) appeared only in 1 vertical band which had the narrowest horizontal distribution. In each sample plot, dominant species ranged from 1 to 3, while total species changed from 3 to 19 and scarce species ranged from 0 to 10. Both total and scarce species in sample plot along different altitude showed a peak model with a slow increasing at low altitude, peak at 1 000 m a.s.l. and decreasing at high altitude. The similarity coefficients between ant communities at same altitude showed a unimodal pattern along increased altitude with a peak at 1250 m a.s.l.. From this, The distribution of ant species on Dabashan nature reserve is restricted by altitudes and horizontal distribution spots, and nearly half of species have low  adaptivity to environment and distributed in only 1 horizontal spot. The distribution of ant species was also affected by human factor. It was not beneficial to communication and spread of ant population in zone at low altitude disturbed by human production, which resulted in a habitat fragmentation and simplification.