| Few studies have evaluated the efficiency of methods for sampling ants, especially in regions with highly variable vegetation physiognomies such as the Cerrado region of central Brazil. Here we compared three methods to collect ground-dwelling ants: pitfall traps, sardine baits, and the Winkler litter extractor. Our aim was to determine which method would be most appropriate to characterize the ant assemblages inhabiting different vegetation types. More species were collected with pitfall traps and with the Winkler extractor than with sardine baits. Pitfall traps collected more species in the cerrado (savanna) physiognomies, particularly in those with a poor litter cover, whereas the Winlker extractor was more efficient in the forest physiognomies, except... |
