The interaction between high fire frequency and long flooding seasons maintains open vegetation in floodplains, while low fire frequency and no flooding can lead to forest development. In the Kadiweu Indigenous Territory (IT), in the ecotone between the Cerrado and the Pantanal biomes in Brazil, the diversified spatio-temporal patterns of fire activity affect the diversity of floral functional traits and plant phenological strategies. Given this scenario, we sampled tree and non-tree species abundance data in 156 plots subject to different flood levels and fire frequencies in the Kadiweu IT. Based on flooding regimes and fire frequency data series from 2001 to 2021, we classify the sample sites as floodable or flood-free areas under high (annual or biennial burn), moderate (three-yearly burn), or low (burning at four-year intervals or more) fire frequency. We analyzed the effects of flooding and fire frequency on plant species richness, abundance, and beta diversity (beta). In general, tree density did not affect non-tree species richness. The species richness on the patches with different fire frequency category was generally similar, especially regarding the tree species. However, the combined effect of fire and flooding shifted the species composition. Variability in fire frequency across the landscapes support beta-diversity maintenance in ecotonal vegetation between tropical wetlands and savannas. Furthermore, the similarity in species composition between floodable and flood-free areas at the same fire frequency category is low due to differences in abundance and species replacement. As part of adaptive fire management, we suggest maintaining a heterogeneous mosaic of fire frequencies in the landscape.

The homogenization of fire regimes in a landscape may imply a temporal reduction in the availability of resources, such as flowers and fruits, which affect the fauna, as well as ecosystem services. We hypothesized that maintaining mosaic burning regimes, and thereby pyrodiversity, can diversify phenological patterns, ensuring year-round availability of flowers and fruits. Here we monitored open grassy tropical savanna phenology under different historical fire frequencies and fire seasons in a highly heterogeneous landscape in an Indigenous Territory in Brazil. We evaluated phenological patterns of tree and non-tree plants through monthly surveys over three years. These two life forms responded differently to climate and photoperiod variables and to fire. Different fire regimes led to a continuous availability of flowers and fruits, due to the complementarity between tree and non-tree phenologies. Late-season fires are supposed to be more devastating, but we did not detect a significant reduction in flower and fruit production, especially under moderate fire frequency. However, late burning in patches under high frequency resulted in a low availability of ripe fruits in trees. The fruiting of non-tree plants in patches under low fire frequency and early burning ensure ripe fruit, when there are practically no trees fruiting in the entire landscape. We conclude that maintaining a seasonal fire mosaic should be prioritized over historical fire regimes, which lead to homogenization. Fire management is best conducted between the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the dry season, when the risk of burning fertile plants is lower.

Ants are present in almost all terrestrial environments and are considered indicators of environmental quality. Areas such as the Brazilian savannah have been suffering from intense degradation in the last decades. This work aims to describe the composition of the ant community in Cerrado fragments in urban areas and test how the size and type of fragment affect this composition. The study was carried out in four Cerrado fragments located in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazilian Center-West: two state parks and two private natural heritage reserves. The collections were carried out using 675 pitfall traps for 72 h, and environmental variables were measured in each plot. Overall, 84 ant species were recorded, including five new species for the state. There was a significant difference in species richness and community composition between fragments, and environmental variables significantly affected community composition. Variation in habitat structure may have been due to vertical stratification of the vegetation, elements of understory formation, and the contribution of leaf litter formation. Local, regional, and landscape aspects are significant for the maintenance of local ant biodiversity in cities. However, variation and quality of habitat within the fragments are also preponderant factors in this regard.

Ants, an ecologically successful and numerically dominant group of animals, play key ecological roles as soil engineers, predators, nutrient recyclers, and regulators of plant growth and reproduction in most terrestrial ecosystems. Further, ants are widely used as bioindicators of the ecological impact of land use. We gathered information of ant species in the Atlantic Forest of South America. The ATLANTIC ANTS data set, which is part of the ATLANTIC SERIES data papers, is a compilation of ant records from collections (18,713 records), unpublished data (29,651 records), and published sources (106,910 records; 1,059 references), including papers, theses, dissertations, and book chapters published from 1886 to 2020. In total, the data set contains 153,818 ant records from 7,636 study locations in the Atlantic Forest, representing 10 subfamilies, 99 genera, 1,114 ant species identified with updated taxonomic certainty, and 2,235 morphospecies codes. Our data set reflects the heterogeneity in ant records, which include ants sampled at the beginning of the taxonomic history of myrmecology (the 19th and 20th centuries) and more recent ant surveys designed to address specific questions in ecology and biology. The data set can be used by researchers to develop strategies to deal with different macroecological and region-wide questions, focusing on assemblages, species occurrences, and distribution patterns. Furthermore, the data can be used to assess the consequences of changes in land use in the Atlantic Forest on different ecological processes. No copyright restrictions apply to the use of this data set, but we request that authors cite this data paper when using these data in publications or teaching events.

The Brazilian Savanna is threatened mainly by the expansion of agriculture and livestock. Regarding environmental problems, habitat loss in the biome and the need to verify studies on ants as bioindicators, the goal of this paper was to carry out a bibliographic review of the literature about ants as bioindicators in this biome from the last 30 years. We searched papers about ants as bioindicators in the Brazilian Savanna from the last 30 years, refining the search between the years 1986 to 2016 and we analyzed 16 papers about ants as bioindicators. Monitoring studies focusing on ants as bioindicators in the Brazilian Savanna started in 1992 and increased since 2002. The results obtained in the studies presented changes in the species richness and composition in relation to potential bioindication. In general, 167 species are defined as bioindicators of the Brazilian Savanna and are related to specific habitats. We verified that most studies were done Minas Gerais state. We noted that the absence of rigorous analysis damaged the results of the studies, as well as the knowledge of ant fauna biology for correct attribution of indication characteristics of preserved or degraded areas.