Social Insects and Biodiversity Conservation

Introduction: Conserve What?

1. If conservation of evolutionary heritage is the goal... please go here
2. If sustainability is the goal...please go here
3. If development and "ecosystem health" are mutually compatible as goals of conservation, please go here

What is fun for social insects? Why study them?

1. Evolution: Phylogenetics, taxonomy, life cycle

Hymenoptera

Ants (list & key in Taiwan, Japan and Minnesota-US)

Wasps(list in Taiwan)

Bees (list in taiwan)

Termites (list in Taiwan)

2. Ecology: Ecological functioning and structure in ecosystem

Concept of functional groups in ecological communities

Diets of Ants (need a pdf browser?)

Habitats of Ants

Ant Communities in Temporate Grassland (Ft. Snelling State Park, Minnesota, US)

(using ant community as an example)

3. Biogeography: Ant fauna and biogeographic distribution

	Regional Ant Fauna Study in Specific Sites
Japan	Taiwan	Philippines
Okinawa-Ogasawara-Ryukyus	Green & Lanyu Is.	Batan Is.-Babuyan Is.

Information on the Internet

• The International Society of Hymenopterists
• Hymenoptera On-Line Database (Ohio State University)
• On-Line Systematic Catalogs of Hymenoptera (Ohio State University)
• Hymenoptera families (INBIO, Costa Rica)
• Introduction to the Hymenoptera at UCMP Berkeley
• Tree project (Maddison 1995)
• Japanese Ant Database Group (1998)