Change of ant fauna in the Gwangneung forest: Test on influence of climatic warming

Based on data of ants that were surveyed by the same method in the Gwangneung forest in 1993 and 2009, influences of climate changes on ant fauna were examined. If temperature in a region is lower than the optimum temperature, then the occurrence of the species increase as temperature rises; and vice versa. As temperature rises, it will be more advantageous to the species with high optimum temperature than the species with low optimum temperature. The optimum temperature, therefore, will have a linear relation with change of occurrence. In this study, two hypotheses were examined. Although significant difference was not found, the decrease expected group (with lower optimum temperature) decreased more in occurrence compared with the increase expected group (with higher optimum temperature). A highland dominant species, Myrmica kotokui, occurred in 1993 but did not occur in 2009. Comparison of ant fauna between 1993 and 2009 indicate a possibility of influence of climatic warming, but this finding was not proved statistically.