How Habitat Simplification Shapes the Morphological Characteristics of Ant Assemblages (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Different Biogeographical Contexts

Human-driven changes in land cover and use can significantly impact species ants community structures, often leading to a decline in taxonomic diversity or species homogenization. Ant morphology, used as a proxy for ecological function, offers a valuable framework for understanding the effects of anthropogenic disturbances on ant diversity. This study explored the morphological diversity of ant assemblages in agricultural ecosystems and secondary forests in Italy and the Brazilian Amazon, analyzing how these communities are structured and adapted to different environments. The research aims to understand the ecological interactions and the role of ants in maintaining biodiversity in these contexts. The study was conducted in the Ticino River Natural Park, Italy, and the Paragominas mosaic in Pará, Brazil. The ants were sampled using epigean pitfall traps at 15 agricultural and 13 forest sites. In the secondary forests, the species richness was significantly higher in both countries compared to agricultural areas. In general, the Community Weighted Mean (CWM) of the selected traits (head length, head width, interocular distance, mandible length, eye width, Weber's length, and tibia length) of Brazilian ants was higher than those of Italian. However, the CWM of agricultural areas of the two countries was more similar. We noticed the convex hull (i.e., the volume of an assemblage in the morphological space) of Brazilian secondary forests was still larger than Italian secondary forests when both assemblages have the same number of species. Morphological homogenization was more pronounced in agricultural settings, whereas secondary forests showed more variability, highlighting the role of environmental filtering in shaping ant communities across land use types.