Competition for food and nesting resources in arboreal ant communities is higher in lowland than in mid-elevation rainforests

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60077344%3A_____%2F25%3A00616864" target="_blank" >RIV/60077344:_____/25:00616864 - isvavai.cz</a>

Nalezeny alternativní kódy

RIV/60076658:12310/25:43909907

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://myrmecologicalnews.org/cms/index.php?option=com_download&view=download&filename=volume35/mn35_73-87_printable.pdf&format=raw" target="_blank" >https://myrmecologicalnews.org/cms/index.php?option=com_download&view=download&filename=volume35/mn35_73-87_printable.pdf&format=raw</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.25849/myrmecol.news_035:073" target="_blank" >10.25849/myrmecol.news_035:073</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Competition for food and nesting resources in arboreal ant communities is higher in lowland than in mid-elevation rainforests

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

Competition is one of the most intriguing ecological concepts as it is ubiquitous in nature but challenging to quantify. Tropical arboreal ants are known to compete for food resources and nesting space, with some species maintaining large colonies and territories. However, little is known about how elevation and forest stratification influence this competition at the community level. We hypothesize that ant competition is mediated by temperature and therefore expect it to increase in the warmer lowland rainforests compared with mid-elevations. We also expect that temperature should lead to higher competition in forest canopies compared with smaller understorey trees due to warmer microclimate. We measured resource competition by placing baits (food resource) and bamboo cavities (nesting resource) in the natural rainforest of Mt. Wilhelm, Papua New Guinea. These artificial resources were distributed in both canopy and understorey trees across four sites in each of two locations: lowland (ca. 200 m above sea level, a.s.l.) and mid-elevation (ca. 900 m a.s.l.) forests. We recorded a total of 89 ant species on the baits and 33 species inside the cavities, and each resource measured a complementary part of the community. Mid-elevation sites had significantly higher ant species diversity and species co-occurrence on baits but much lower occupation and abundance both on the baits and in the cavities. This indicated a stronger competition in the lowland than mid-elevation communities, despite the higher ant diversity in the latter. Canopies showed a higher competition than understorey, reflected by higher occupancies of both cavities and baits. Moreover, behaviourally dominant territorial species were much more common on baits in the lowlands than mid-elevations. While the two locations did not differ in the forest structure (i.e., tree size, lianas, and dead wood), the lowlands were ca. 4 °C warmer. We hypothesize that the lowland dominance of aggressive ants, possibly maintained by this warmer climate, plays an underappreciated role in elevational community assembly. We conclude that temperature-mediated competition is thus the most likely driver of the observed differences in ant community structure between the two elevations.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Competition for food and nesting resources in arboreal ant communities is higher in lowland than in mid-elevation rainforests

Popis výsledku anglicky

Competition is one of the most intriguing ecological concepts as it is ubiquitous in nature but challenging to quantify. Tropical arboreal ants are known to compete for food resources and nesting space, with some species maintaining large colonies and territories. However, little is known about how elevation and forest stratification influence this competition at the community level. We hypothesize that ant competition is mediated by temperature and therefore expect it to increase in the warmer lowland rainforests compared with mid-elevations. We also expect that temperature should lead to higher competition in forest canopies compared with smaller understorey trees due to warmer microclimate. We measured resource competition by placing baits (food resource) and bamboo cavities (nesting resource) in the natural rainforest of Mt. Wilhelm, Papua New Guinea. These artificial resources were distributed in both canopy and understorey trees across four sites in each of two locations: lowland (ca. 200 m above sea level, a.s.l.) and mid-elevation (ca. 900 m a.s.l.) forests. We recorded a total of 89 ant species on the baits and 33 species inside the cavities, and each resource measured a complementary part of the community. Mid-elevation sites had significantly higher ant species diversity and species co-occurrence on baits but much lower occupation and abundance both on the baits and in the cavities. This indicated a stronger competition in the lowland than mid-elevation communities, despite the higher ant diversity in the latter. Canopies showed a higher competition than understorey, reflected by higher occupancies of both cavities and baits. Moreover, behaviourally dominant territorial species were much more common on baits in the lowlands than mid-elevations. While the two locations did not differ in the forest structure (i.e., tree size, lianas, and dead wood), the lowlands were ca. 4 °C warmer. We hypothesize that the lowland dominance of aggressive ants, possibly maintained by this warmer climate, plays an underappreciated role in elevational community assembly. We conclude that temperature-mediated competition is thus the most likely driver of the observed differences in ant community structure between the two elevations.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

10618 - Ecology

Projekt

<a href="/cs/project/GA21-00828S" target="_blank" >GA21-00828S: Je kompetice skutečně hlavním faktorem formujícím společenstva mravenců v korunách tropických lesů?</a><br>

Návaznosti

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Rok uplatnění

2025

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

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

Název periodika

Myrmecological News

ISSN

1994-4136

e-ISSN

—

Svazek periodika

35

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

17 Feb

Stát vydavatele periodika

AT - Rakouská republika

Počet stran výsledku

15

Strana od-do

73-87

Kód UT WoS článku

001510228400002

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-105016853544