Finding and Testing Ant Assemblages as Indicators of Recovery Successions in Coal-Affected Areas

Abstract

We studied the species richness of ants and types of nests on dumps of different ages formed by waste from the coal mining industry in the taiga and forest-steppe zones of Kemerovo Region, the Russian Federation. It was revealed that only underground nests of L. niger, the prevalence of species with a wide ecological valence, which belong to the ubiquist group, and groups of species with an adaptive type of response to anthropogenic pressure, act as indicators of initial successions. It was revealed that the following indicators act as indicators of the initial successions: the presence of only underground nests of L. niger, the predominance of species with a wide ecological valence (ubiquist) and species with an adaptive type of response to anthropogenic pressure.