Environmental drivers of ant dominance in a tropical rainforest canopy at different spatial scales

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60077344%3A_____%2F21%3A00535319" target="_blank" >RIV/60077344:_____/21:00535319 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/een.12988" target="_blank" >https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/een.12988</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/een.12988" target="_blank" >10.1111/een.12988</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Environmental drivers of ant dominance in a tropical rainforest canopy at different spatial scales

Original language description

Tropical trees accommodate a high co-occurrence of ant species, mainly due to the high diversity of microhabitats available. However, a fewant species are highly abundant, dominating resources and defending territories in tree canopies. Although arboreal ants have been studied extensively, little is known about the structural drivers of ant spatial dominance in tropical rainforest canopies. This study investigated whether canopy treemicrohabitats and micro-environmental factors (given by branch characteristics and spatial position of sampling points within tree crowns) are determinants of ant presence and species composition in a Mexican tropical rainforest. It also analysed whether whole tree characteristics, that is, the tree canopy, given by tree size and epiphyte/climbing plant richness and abundance, could determine ant spatial dominance of food resources. This study found a higher probability of ant presence on baits lower in the canopy, probably a result of ants foraging in the zones between the treetops and the ground layer. No microhabitat or micro-environmental variables were related to ant species composition. It also observed less dissimilarity of species composition between baits and between trees than between plots, revealing that each plot presents a unique set of species. Moreover, increased tree height and epiphyte/climbing plant abundance (i.e., structural heterogeneity and greater foraging area) and lower epiphyte/climbing plant richness led to decreasing ant dominance. This study’s findings reveal that, while micro-environmental factors have almost no influence on the foraging of dominant ant species within canopy trees, the size and heterogeneity of trees shape ants’ spatial dominance.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10616 - Entomology

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Ecological Entomology

ISSN

0307-6946

e-ISSN

1365-2311

Volume of the periodical

46

Issue of the periodical within the volume

2

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

11

Pages from-to

440-450

UT code for WoS article

000594249100001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85096851009