Ants of the genus Myrmica Latr. are one of the abundant insects in many ecosystems of the Baikal region. Information on their landscape distribution is of great theoretical and practical value because Myrmica ants have important functions in the terrestrial ecosystems. The ants had been collected in the Irkutsk Region and the Republic of Buryatia from 2002 to 2011. The method of route survey with a strip width of 2 m was used. Garmin GPS 12 was used to register the geographical coordinates of the locations of the ants' nests. The collected ant specimens were fixed and stored in 1.5 ml Eppendorf microtubes filled with 95% ethanol. In total 151 nest samples were investigated. All material used in this study is stored in the entomological collection of the Core Facilities Center “Bioresource Center” at the Siberian Institute of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry SB RAS (Irkutsk, Russia). The analysis was carried out by means of GIS technology. The published map "Landscapes of the south of East Siberia" was the basis for this analysis. The V.B. Sochava’s methodical developments in the field of landscape studies were used. The main mapping units were geomes. Determination of the landscape distribution of ants was conducted by SQL-queries using a vector landscape layer and a point vector layer of the locations of the nests of ants. 14 species were identified during data processing. It has been found that the nests of ants were located within 15 geomes. M. angulinodis and M. ruginodis are the most common ants of the genus Myrmica in the Baikal region. The most of M. angulinodis nests (32.5%) were recorded in mountain taiga larch forests of limited development and the most of M. ruginodis nests (48.6%) are in the foothill subtaiga pine forests. The largest species number was recorded in the foothill subtaiga pine forests (six species) and the mountain west-transbaikalia geosystems of daurian type (five species). A more detailed picture of the landscape distribution of Myrmica ants was obtained in comparison with previous works. The obtained data on the landscape distribution of ants were in good agreement with field and literary data.

Antonov Igor Alekseevich, Candidate of Science (Biology), Senior Research Scientist, Siberian Institute of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry SB RAS, 132, Lermontov st., Irkutsk, 664033, Russian Federation, e-mail: patologi@sifibr.irk.ru

Antonov I.A. New Data on Landscape Distribution of Ants of the Genus Myrmica Latr. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in the Baikal Region. The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series Biology. Ecology, 2020, vol. 33, pp. 62-69. https://doi.org/10.26516/2073-3372.2020.33.62 (in Russian)

landscapes, geomes, Myrmica, arealogical groups, geoinformation system

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