DE NEDERLANDSE MIEREN nlmieren.nl
The vegetation on wood ant mounds is denser and more developed than in the direct surrounding of the mound, more than on an abandoned
wood ant mound and more than on a wood ant mound without dead vegetable material (sand mound).
| mean weight of one plant/leave in gram **) | minimum-maximum (mean) length in cm ***) | plant species | woodant mound details |
| 1,4 | 1,0 - 13,2 (7,5) | Carex arenaria | Formica rufa-mound; vegetation of Carex arenaria restricted to the mound, not in the ditrect surrounding (n=86) |
| 0,7 | 1,0 - 11,4 (5,8) | Carex arenaria | Recently (< 1 year) abandoned Formica rufa-mound (n=73) |
| 0,3 | 0,3 - 5,4 (2,9) | Carex arenaria | 250 cm around the abandoned Formica rufa-mound (n=109) |
| 0,5 | 1,1 - 8,3 (2,7) | Carex arenaria | Formica polyctena nest without vegetable matter (whole nestpopulation lives in sand for still more than ten years) (n=127) |
| 0,35 | 0,6 - 5,1 (1,9) | Carex arenaria | 250 cm around the sand nest of Formica polyctena (n=102) |
| 0,76 | 9,9 - 20,1 (15,3) | Convallaria majalis | Formica rufa-mound in a vegetation of Convallaria majalis (n=86) |
| 0,64 | 8,1 - 18,3 (14,0) | Convallaria majalis | Most developed plants in the same Convallaria majalis-vegetation, outside the Formica rufa mound, same surface as the wood ant mound (n=160) |
| 0,34 | 8,2 - 17,2 (11,5) | Convallaria majalis | 250 cm around the same Formica rufa-mound (n=157) |
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| Carex arenaria length (mm), % - Formica rufa (mound of vegetable matter) | Carex arenaria lenth (mm), % - Formica polyctena (nest in sand) | ||||
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| Convallaria majalis length (mm), % - Formica rufa | Convallaria majalis on Formica rufa mound |
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The vegetation on nestmounds (here Convallaria) is greener, more vital, than around the mound. |
| *)in the coastal dunes of Bergen, The Netherlands, 52°40' N, 04° 40' E. Material collected on 28, 30 and 31 July 2007. |
| **) for Carex arenaria whole plant, without roots; for Convallaria majalis the longest of the two leaves |
| ***) for Carex arenaria maximum length from the first outgoing leaf; for Convallaria majalis from the leaf gap of the longest of the two leaves |
last update: 03.10.2012