Ant Survey Data, Calperum Mallee Supersite, Calperum Station 2014

Ants are a focal faunal taxon for the Australian SuperSite Network and the Australian Transect Network (ATN). Ants are Australia’s dominant faunal group in terms of biomass and energy flow. They occupy all trophic levels, act as ecosystem engineers, feature in many mutualistic interactions with plants, and are a key food resource for many vertebrates. Ants are also Australia’s best studied insect group in terms of biogeography and community dynamics. They are the most widely used invertebrate bio-indicators in environmental assessment and monitoring. Ants are readily sampled for monitoring purposes using pitfall traps. Pitfall traps are especially effective in open habitats, where the great majority of ant species are trappable. Pitfall traps capture less of the fauna in tropical rainforests (which support a high diversity of specialist arboreal taxa), but have still proven effective for environmental assessment and monitoring in these habitats. Pitfall traps have been used to sample ants at thousands of sites from throughout Australia over the past 30 years.

蚂蚁是澳大利亚超级站点网络（Australian SuperSite Network）与澳大利亚样带网络（Australian Transect Network, ATN）的核心动物类群。就生物量与能量流动而言，蚂蚁是澳大利亚占主导地位的动物类群。它们占据所有营养级，扮演生态系统工程师的角色，参与诸多与植物的互利共生互作，同时也是众多脊椎动物的关键食物资源。就生物地理学与群落动态而言，蚂蚁也是澳大利亚研究最为深入的昆虫类群，同时是环境评估与监测中应用最广泛的无脊椎动物生物指示物。
利用陷阱诱捕器（pitfall trap）可便捷采集蚂蚁样本以用于监测工作。陷阱诱捕器在开阔生境中效果尤为显著，绝大多数蚂蚁物种均可在此类生境中被捕获。但在热带雨林生境中，陷阱诱捕器捕获的动物类群相对较少——此类生境孕育了高度多样的特化树栖类群——不过实践证明其仍可有效应用于此类生境的环境评估与监测工作。在过去30年间，研究人员已利用陷阱诱捕器在澳大利亚全境数千处样点开展了蚂蚁样本采集工作。