Hunting habits die hard: Conserved prey preferences in army ants across two distant neotropical rainforests

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60077344%3A_____%2F24%3A00585394" target="_blank" >RIV/60077344:_____/24:00585394 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.4812" target="_blank" >https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.4812</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4812" target="_blank" >10.1002/ecs2.4812</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Hunting habits die hard: Conserved prey preferences in army ants across two distant neotropical rainforests

Original language description

Army ants are widely recognized as keystone species in neotropical rainforests due to their role as important arthropod predators. Their large-scale raids involve thousands of workers scouring the forest floor in pursuit of prey, primarily capturing other invertebrates. Up to 20 species of army ants coexist in a rainforest, and dietary niche differentiation has been proposed as a mechanism to alleviate competition among them. Based on only a handful of study sites, however, our understanding of the precise dietary preferences and the extent of niche differentiation remains notably limited. In this study, we aimed to expand our knowledge of army ant communities by resolving an Ecuadorian predation network consisting of 244 prey species and 13 army ant species representing the five known neotropical army ant genera: Cheliomyrmex, Eciton, Labidus, Neivamyrmex, and Nomamyrmex. We collected 2156 prey items from 180 army ant raids/emigrations, and of these, we identified 1945 prey items to the family level, 1313 to the genus level, and 664 to the species level based on morphological identifications and DNA barcodes. Prey consisted primarily of other ants (1843 prey items, 153 ant species), to the largest part ant brood (N = 1726). Hence, most army ant species chiefly plundered the nests of other ants, while the three swarm raiding species, that is, Lab. praedator, Lab. spininodis, and Ec. burchellii, exhibited a relatively high proportion of non-ant invertebrate prey in their diet. The predation network showed a high degree of specialization (H2 ' = 0.65), characterized by little dietary niche overlap among sympatric species. We compared the Ecuadorian network with one previously studied in Costa Rica and found that, despite the large geographic distance, prey preferences remained remarkably similar. We discovered species-specific preferences for captured ant genera and species, despite some species turnover in both army ants and prey. Additionally, army ants also exhibited consistent spatiotemporal raiding preferences across study sites. In conclusion, predation preferences within army ant communities exhibited consistency in multiple niche dimensions across two distant neotropical rainforests, suggesting a notable level of predictability within army ant predation networks.

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

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OECD FORD branch

10618 - Ecology

Project

—

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

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

Name of the periodical

Ecosphere

ISSN

2150-8925

e-ISSN

2150-8925

Volume of the periodical

15

Issue of the periodical within the volume

4

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

26

Pages from-to

e4812

UT code for WoS article

001200456400001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85190243552