Ant assemblages at their dry limits: the northern Atacama Desert, Peru, and the Chott El Djerid, Tunisia

Ants do not occur in the rocky desert of the Nazca Plain, Peru, except in the vicinity of shrubs in outwash gulleys, where there are two species that have similar activity periods and microhabitats and exhibit interference competition. Only one species of ant was found on the Chott El Djerid, Tunisia, a large, dry salt lake, devoid of vegetation.