Description
Ant invertebrate records were sampled using pitfall traps, at the Cape Peninsular National Park, in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve Section in 1999. The aim of this study, was to determine if ants were useful as indicators of recovery success in South African fynbos cleared of invasive alien plants by different clearing methods. Ant abundance, species richness, diversity, evenness, and composition were compared between treatment and control areas, at three sites in the Reserve. The alien clearing methods were comprised of several treatments (including multiple treatments in one site), including K1a: burnt, bulldozed and aerial sprayed; K1b:burnt, bulldozed and aerial sprayed; K2: burnt and aerial sprayed; K3: Control at the Klaasjagersberg site; M4: Control at the Meadows site, M5: Burnt and foliar sprayed; P6a: Burnt and boomsprayed, P6b: Burnt and boomsprayed, P7: Burnt and foliar sprayed, P8: Control site at the Platboom site. The overall study utilised both a vegetation survey and an ant survey, as indicators of recovery success in fynbos vegetation. Data was collected as part of a Postgraduate Masters Degree Project, with specimens contributing to the Iziko Natural History Collections. The Project was registered with the University of Cape Town, with the Institute for Plant Conservation and conducted in collaboration with Iziko Museums.
Data Records
The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 50 records.
1 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.
This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.
Versions
The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.
How to cite
Researchers should cite this work as follows:
Parker-Allie F (2024). Ants of the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. Version 1.0. South African National Biodiversity Institute. Samplingevent dataset. https://ipt.sanbi.org.za/resource?r=iziko_antscapepointnaturereserve_1999&v=1.0
Rights
Researchers should respect the following rights statement:
The publisher and rights holder of this work is South African National Biodiversity Institute. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.
GBIF Registration
This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: a0592cca-f18f-4872-bba7-842fe44f7349. South African National Biodiversity Institute publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by South African Biodiversity Information Facility.
Keywords
Samplingevent; Specimen
Contacts
- Metadata Provider ●
- Originator ●
- User ●
- Point Of Contact
https://orcid.org/ORCID 0000-0002-0004-9504
- Curator
- User
Geographic Coverage
Cape Peninsular National Park, in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve Section. Currently called the Table Mountain National Park Bounding coordinates: N: -34.262601 Bounding coordinates: S: -34.346778 Bounding coordinates: W: 18.384246 Bounding coordinates: E: 18.479527
| Bounding Coordinates | South West [-34.347, 18.384], North East [-34.263, 18.48] |
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Taxonomic Coverage
Ant species from South Africa, sampled within the Cape Peninsular National Park, in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve Section. Currently called the Table Mountain National Park, , Ant species from South Africa, sampled within the Cape Peninsular National Park, in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve Section. Currently called the Table Mountain National Park,
| Family | Formicidae (Ant) |
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Temporal Coverage
| Start Date / End Date | 1999-02-24 / 1999-03-29 |
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Project Data
MSc Thesis Project entitled "The Impacts of Different Methods of Alien Plant Control on the Recovery of Fynbos Ecosystems"
| Title | The Impacts of Different Methods of Alien Plant Control on the Recovery of Fynbos Ecosystems |
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| Funding | National Research Foundation and the CSIR |
| Study Area Description | Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve |
Sampling Methods
A total of 20 pitfalls were installed in five quadrats per study site (4 pitfalls per quadrat). Each pitfall was then placed 2.5 meters from the corner, and one meter towards the inside of the quadrat. The pitfall traps were plastic cups, 9.5 cm deep with a diameter of 6.5 cm at the top, containing c. 75 ml of ethylene glycol. The pitfall trapping survey was conducted from late February to March 1999 for a period of one month. For each quadrat, two samples were processed at random, yielding a total of 100 pitfall traps. Twice the number of pitfall traps was installed to counteract losses and breakage of traps. After the installation of pitfall traps, samples were collected after 31 days. On return to the laboratory, saltwater extractions were used to separate organic matter from inorganic matter and the resultant liquid was cleaned. Samples were stored in 80 % ethanol. Ants were separated from other invertebrates and sorted to morphospecies based on external morphological characters. A reference collection for the reserve, housed at the Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town, was used for identifying species, and voucher specimens from each site were mounted and added to this collection. In cases where large numbers of ants of one species were found, the contents of the pitfalls were sub-sampled for that species, from which the estimated total number was calculated.
| Study Extent | Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve |
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| Quality Control | Data were validated by engaging with experts where necessary and using various field guides; GPS coordinates obtained; GBIF Taxonomic matching tool utilised |
Method step description:
- See above
Collection Data
| Collection Name | Hymenoptera |
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| Specimen preservation methods | Alcohol |
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Bibliographic Citations
- F Parker-Allie, HG Robertson, and Richardson DM, 2008. The Argentine ant, Veld and Flora
Additional Metadata
| Alternative Identifiers | https://ipt.sanbi.org.za/resource?r=iziko_antscapepointnaturereserve_1999 |
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