Print PageThe relationship between species diversity and latitude and elevation gradients has traditionally been a topic of much investigation for ecologists and biogeographers. We use ants (Hymenoptera Formicidae) to evaluate how species richness patterns change along latitudinal and elevation gradients in the Northeastern United States. To accomplish this, we sampled ants at 70 sites between 37°N and 46°N during the summer of 2010. We used pitfall traps and systematic hand collecting to sample ants in two habitat types (open fields and forests). We present here only a subset of our findings (15 sites), emphasizing the collections at the mid latitudes ( 41°N-42°N) along an elevation gradient (~0m-1000m).
Results/Conclusions
The patterns derived from this subset of data will serve as a hypothesis to evaluate overall species richness in the Northeastern United States. Furthermore, we explore the relationship between genera richness and species richness at this subset of sites, to predict species richness at sites where only generic data is currently available. These findings contribute to the understanding of species range limits, diversity patterns along geographic gradients, and ant community assembly in the eastern forests of the United States.
