yctena Foerst.
The PCA ordination of the sampling units
yielded the following results (Fig. 1). The ant assemblages
of the open habitats (plots 2, 3, 4 and 5) and
that of the forests (plots 8 and 9) are segregated
along the first PCA axis. The central position of plot
no 1 is explained by the fact that since it was an
almost bare sand surface, its ant fauna mainly consisted
of individuals occurring accidentally without
nest. The only nesting species was Lasius psammophilus.
This poor, single species ant assemblage
could be a starting point of ant community assembly
in both open and forest habitats. The transitional
position of plot 6 is in accordance with its vegetation
mentioned above. The ant assemblage of the young
pine plantation (plot 7) differs from the older, natural
forests and situated among the open habitats in the
PCA scattergram. The second axis is responsible for
the differentiation of grassland ant assemblages from
that of other open habitats