Ant researcher examines effects on cattle grazing
An ant researcher is collecting thousand of ants from Northern Territory cattle stations to see what impact cattle grazing may be having on both the number and diversity of species.
Brazillian researcher Gabriela Burle Arcoverde from Charles Darwin University is comparing heavily grazed sites with ungrazed sites in both high and low rainfall areas.
And it's a big job.
Ms Arcoverde has already collected more than 10,000 ants so far, pinning and storing them as part of a larger collection at the CSIRO in Darwin.
"It's one of the biggest ant collections in the world and it contains over 6,000 species of ants," she said.
"I'm interested in how disturbance affects ants, because ants are a great bio-indicator.
"The idea is to see how grazing impacts ants along different geographic regions."
Ms Arcoverde is sampling ants on Lakefield Station near Mataranka, and both Old Man Plains and Henbury Stations near Alice Springs.
She says her initial results indicate that ants are incredibly resilient to grazing.
"Grazing affects ants indirectly," she said.
"Habitat is the main thing influencing ant composition and species.
"Non-grazed areas are more complex habitat.
"Grazing opens up their habitat, makes the ground harder and affects seed dispersal.
"So far it appears that high rainfall areas suffer more and are more damaged by grazing than low rainfall areas, because dry areas are already more open."
The study will compare the Australian sites with similar climatic areas in Brazil.
It is expected to be completed within three years.