<![CDATA[Ants are an insect group with important ecological roles and are widely used as bioindicators of habitat condition changes. This study aimed to analyze ant community structure at different vegetation density levels in the Arboretum of Universitas Riau. The study was conducted in February 2026 using the pitfall trap method in two vegetation categories, dense vegetation and moderate vegetation, with two sampling occasions. A total of 931 ant individuals belonging to 10 species of the family Formicidae were recorded. Community structure was analyzed using the Shannon-Wiener diversity index, species richness, evenness, total abundance, Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS), PERMANOVA, and SIMPER. The results showed that mean Shannon diversity, species richness, evenness, and total abundance tended to be higher in moderate vegetation, but none of these parameters differed significantly between vegetation categories (p > 0.05). NMDS analysis showed a tendency for community separation between dense and moderate vegetation. however, PERMANOVA did not detect a significant difference in community composition (F = 3.098, p = 0.100). The test of multivariate dispersion also showed no significant difference between vegetation categories (F = 0.0482, p = 0.594). SIMPER analysis indicated that Odontoponera sp., Anoplolepis gracilipes, Camponotus sp., and Oecophylla smaragdina were the main contributors to community dissimilarity between vegetation categories. These findings indicate variation in ant abundance and composition across vegetation density levels, although significant differences in community structure and composition were not detected.]]>
