Impacts of a controlled burn on foraging behavior of ants in a sandplain forest of Vermont

Disturbance caused by a controlled burn could alter the behavior, species composition and abundance of foraging ants.  We censused ants at tuna and jelly baits (n = 30 baits of each type) in early June, 2013, in an area of the Vermont Army National Guard Base in Colchester, subjected to a management burn in May 2013, and in an unburned area of the same sandplain forest.    Aphaenogaster rudis exhibited tool-use behavior at baits (debris-dropping and retrieval).  We found no difference in the attendance of A. rudis at the baits in the burned versus the control areas (p = 0.94 jelly; p =0.52 tuna); it was the most common species in both areas and at both kinds of  baits (burned area: at 67% of jelly, 60% of tuna baits; control area: 73% of jelly, 67% of tuna baits).  Debris dropping by A. rudis in jelly baits did not differ between the areas (p>0.05; burned: 40% with debris; control: 47 % with debris).   The same six ant species visited baits in the control and burned areas.    However, the ant Formica subsericea was significantly more abundant in the burned area (tuna: P < 0.04; jelly P< 0.10) than in the control.   Pitfall trap and Winkler data show substantial differences in the ant communities of the burned and control areas; bait attendance may show fewer differences because ant species that are common at baits are also good colonizers of burned habitat.