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1.
Geographic and elevational variation in the local abundance of swarm-raiding army ants has implications for the population
dynamics of their prey, as well as affecting the profitability of army-ant-following behavior for birds. Here, we analyze
systematically collected data on E. burchellii and L. praedator raid rates from geographically and elevationally wide-ranging sites, from lowland to montane forests. We show that raids
of each species, and of both species pooled, reach peak densities at intermediate (premontane) elevations. These patterns
suggest that army ant swarm raids are relatively abundant in Neotropical montane forests. Therefore, a paucity of ant raids
does not explain the absence of obligate ant-following bird species, particularly true antbirds (Thamnophilidae), from montane
forests. As army ant raids are relatively common at middle elevations, opportunities exist for other montane bird taxa to
exploit army ant raids as a food source. 相似文献
2.
Inhibited dispersal, leading to reduced gene flow, threatens populations with inbreeding depression and local extinction. Fragmentation may be especially detrimental to social insects because inhibited gene flow has important consequences for cooperation and competition within and among colonies. Army ants have winged males and permanently wingless queens; these traits imply male‐biased dispersal. However, army ant colonies are obligately nomadic and have the potential to traverse landscapes. Eciton burchellii, the most regularly nomadic army ant, is a forest interior species: colony raiding activities are limited in the absence of forest cover. To examine whether nomadism and landscape (forest clearing and elevation) affect population genetic structure in a montane E. burchellii population, we reconstructed queen and male genotypes from 25 colonies at seven polymorphic microsatellite loci. Pairwise genetic distances among individuals were compared to pairwise geographical and resistance distances using regressions with permutations, partial Mantel tests and random forests analyses. Although there was no significant spatial genetic structure in queens or males in montane forest, dispersal may be male‐biased. We found significant isolation by landscape resistance for queens based on land cover (forest clearing), but not on elevation. Summed colony emigrations over the lifetime of the queen may contribute to gene flow in this species and forest clearing impedes these movements and subsequent gene dispersal. Further forest cover removal may increasingly inhibit Eciton burchellii colony dispersal. We recommend maintaining habitat connectivity in tropical forests to promote population persistence for this keystone species. 相似文献
3.
Catalina Valdivia Justin A. Newton Christoph von Beeren Sean O'Donnell Daniel J. C. Kronauer Jacob A. Russell Piotr Łukasik 《Environmental microbiology》2023,25(12):3466-3483
The transmission of microbial symbionts across animal species could strongly affect their biology and evolution, but our understanding of transmission patterns and dynamics is limited. Army ants (Formicidae: Dorylinae) and their hundreds of closely associated insect guest species (myrmecophiles) can provide unique insights into interspecific microbial symbiont sharing. Here, we compared the microbiota of workers and larvae of the army ant Eciton burchellii with those of 13 myrmecophile beetle species using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. We found that the previously characterized specialized bacterial symbionts of army ant workers were largely absent from ant larvae and myrmecophiles, whose microbial communities were usually dominated by Rickettsia, Wolbachia, Rickettsiella and/or Weissella. Strikingly, different species of myrmecophiles and ant larvae often shared identical 16S rRNA genotypes of these common bacteria. Protein-coding gene sequences confirmed the close relationship of Weissella strains colonizing army ant larvae, some workers and several myrmecophile species. Unexpectedly, these strains were also similar to strains infecting dissimilar animals inhabiting very different habitats: trout and whales. Together, our data show that closely interacting species can share much of their microbiota, and some versatile microbial species can inhabit and possibly transmit across a diverse range of hosts and environments. 相似文献
4.
Most of what we know about the moving behaviour of the nomadic army ant Eciton burchellii comes from Barro Colorado Island (BCI) in Panama. Nomadic colonies raid roughly in straight line during the day and relocate
their nests along this path in the evening. At BCI, nomadic colonies raid roughly in the same compass bearing of the previous
day, presumably using their pheromone-marked raiding trails as cues to pick directions. Deviations from this direction occur
when a nomadic colony fails to move, possibly due to environmental conditions. The generality of these results has been questioned.
We studied nomadic colonies of E. burchellii at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica to evaluate the generality of the results obtained from BCI. We measured the angle
between consecutive raids, manipulated the distribution of previous day’s raid pheromones around nests to evaluate the effect
of raid pheromone on foraging direction, and evaluated the effect of rainfall on the probability of moving and on deviation
from the previous day’s raid. Colonies did not follow the same compass bearing of the previous day and formed new raids on
areas with previous day’s raid pheromones or without them. Rainfall can explain when nomadic colonies move, but did not explain
deviation from the previous day’s raid direction. Our results suggest that caution should be taken when generalizing the insightful
results obtained from the BCI population. 相似文献
5.
Queens of eusocial Hymenoptera are inseminated only during a brief period before they start to lay eggs. This has probably
been kin-selected because repeated insemination of old queens would normally be against the inclusive fitness interest of
their daughter workers. Army ants have been considered to be the only possible exception to this rule due to their idiosyncratic
life-history. We studied two distantly related species of army ants, the African Dorylus (Anomma) molestus and the Neotropical Eciton burchellii and present data from microsatellite genotyping, behavioural observations and sperm counts.We also describe the copulation
behaviour of African army ants for the first time. Our results strongly suggest that, contradictory to earlier contentions,
army ant queens do not mate repeatedly throughout their life and thus do not constitute an exception among the eusocial Hymenoptera
in this respect. Sperm counts for males and queens of both species show that army ant queens have to mate with several males
to become fully inseminated. However, sperm limitation by queens is unlikely to have been the prime reason for the evolution
of high queen-mating frequencies in this group.
Received 5 July 2006; revised 26 September 2006; accepted 11 October 2006. 相似文献
6.
The combination of haplodiploidy, complementary sex determination and eusociality constrains the effective population size
(N
e) of social Hymenoptera far more than in any other insect group. Additional limitations on N
e occur in army ants since they have wingless queens and colony fission, both of which are factors causing restricted maternal
gene flow and high population viscosity. Therefore, winged army ant males gain a particular significance to ensure dispersal,
facilitate gene flow and avoid inbreeding. Based on population genetic analyses with microsatellite markers, we studied a
population of the Neotropical army ant Eciton burchellii, finding a high level of heterozygosity, weak population differentiation and no evidence for inbreeding. Moreover, by using
sibship reconstruction analyses, we quantified the actual number of male contributing colonies represented in a queen’s mate
sample, demonstrating that, through extreme multiple mating, the queens are able to sample the genes of males from up to ten
different colonies, usually located within an approximate radius of 1 km. We finally correlated the individual mating success
of each male contributing colony with the relative siring success of individual males and found a significant colony-dependent
male fitness component. Our results imply that the dispersal and mating system of these army ants seem to enhance gene flow
and minimise the deleterious effects associated with small effective population size.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 相似文献
7.
The effective communication of alarm can be critical for social animals so that they are able to deal with threats posed by predators and competitors. In the case of many of the most ecologically dominant, large‐colony ant species, these alarm responses are aggressive and coordinated by alarm pheromones, produced generally from the mandibular glands. In the present study, the alarm behaviour of two Neotropical army ant species is examined, the swarm raiding Eciton burchellii (Westwood) and the column raiding Eciton hamatum (Fabricius). Both species exhibit aggressive alarm responses in response to crushed heads, suggesting that the alarm pheromone is indeed produced by the mandibular glands in these ants. The most abundant component of the mandibular gland secretion, 4‐methyl‐3‐heptanone (10 µL on a rubber septum), stimulates a substantial alarm response, although this is less than the response to a single crushed head. This suggests that 4‐methyl‐3‐heptanone may be an alarm‐stimulating compound in Eciton. The alarm response of E. burchellii involves more workers than that of E. hamatum, although major workers play a much greater role in the response of the latter species. The differences in the alarm response of the two closely‐related species may relate to their foraging strategies, with E. burchellii relying more on quantity rather than the caste of ants responding and possibly using alarm pheromones for offensive as well as defensive functions. 相似文献
8.
S. Powell 《Insectes Sociaux》2011,58(3):317-324
New World army ants (Ecitoninae) are nomadic group-predators that are widely thought to have a substantial impact on their
prey. Nevertheless, quantitative data on prey intake by army ants is scarce and mostly limited to chance encounters. Here,
I quantify the prey intake of the army ant Eciton hamatum at the contrasting scales of raid, colony (sum of simultaneous raids), and population. Like most army ants, E. hamatum conducts narrow ‘column raids’ and has a specialized diet of ant prey. I show that individual raids often had periods of
no prey intake, and raid intake rates, calculated in g/min, differed significantly among colonies. Moreover, neither mean
nor peak raid intake rates were correlated with colony size. Similarly, colony intake rates differed significantly among colonies,
and mean colony intake rates were not correlated with colony size. However, mean colony intake rates were significantly higher
than mean raid intake rates, and peak colony intake rate was correlated with colony size. Having multiple raids thus improves
colony-level intake rates, and larger colonies can harvest more prey per unit time. Mean colony intake rate across colonies
was 0.067 g/min dry weight and mean daily colony intake was calculated at 38.2 g. This intake is comparable to that of Eciton burchellii, which has a more generalized diet and conducts spectacular ‘swarm raids’ that are seen as having a greater impact on prey
than column raids. Population size on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, was estimated to be 57 colonies, which extrapolates to
a daily population intake of nearly 2 kg of prey dry weight, or 120 g/km2. Broadly, these findings demonstrate that column raiding army ants experience considerable variation in prey intake for individual
raids, but can still achieve notable impact at the larger scales of colony and population. Furthermore, they challenge the
idea that swarm-raiding species necessarily have greater intake and thus impact on prey. Instead, I suggest that conducting
multiple column raids may be a strategy that allows for comparable intake from a more specialized diet. 相似文献
9.
Novel approach to heritability detection suggests robustness to paternal genotype in a complex morphological trait 下载免费PDF全文
Max E. Winston Andrea Thompson Gabriel Trujillo Andrew T. Burchill Corrie S. Moreau 《Ecology and evolution》2017,7(12):4179-4191
Heritable variation is essential for evolution by natural selection. In Neotropical army ants, the ecological role of a given species is linked intimately to the morphological variation within the sterile worker caste. Furthermore, the army ant Eciton burchellii is highly polyandrous, presenting a unique opportunity to explore heritability of morphological traits among related workers sharing the same colonial environment. In order to exploit the features of this organismal system, we generated a large genetic and morphological dataset and applied our new method that employs geometric morphometrics (GM) to detect the heritability of complex morphological traits. After validating our approach with an existing dataset of known heritability, we simulated our ability to detect heritable variation given our sampled genotypes, demonstrating the method can robustly recover heritable variation of small effect size. Using this method, we tested for genetic caste determination and heritable morphological variation using genetic and morphological data on 216 individuals of E. burchellii. Results reveal this ant lineage (1) has the highest mating frequency known in ants, (2) demonstrates no paternal genetic caste determination, and (3) suggests a lack of heritable morphological variation in this complex trait associated with paternal genotype. We recommend this method for leveraging the increased resolution of GM data to explore and understand heritable morphological variation in nonmodel organisms. 相似文献
10.
Many organisms use chemicals to deter enemies. Some spiders can modify the composition of their silk to deter predators from climbing onto their webs. The Malaysian golden orb-weaver Nephila antipodiana (Walckenaer) produces silk containing an alkaloid (2-pyrrolidinone) that functions as a defense against ant invasion—ants avoid silk containing this chemical. In the present study, we test the generality of ants’ silk avoidance behavior in the field. We introduced three ant species to the orb webs of Nephila clavipes (Linnaeus) in the tropical rainforest of La Selva, Costa Rica. We found that predatory army ants (Eciton burchellii Westwood) as well as non-predatory leaf-cutting ants (Atta cephalotes Linnaeus and Acromyrmex volcanus Wheeler) avoided adult N. clavipes silk, suggesting that an additional species within genus Nephila may possess ant-deterring silk. Our field assay also suggests that silk avoidance behavior is found in multiple ant species. 相似文献
11.
Philipp O. Hoenle Nico Blüthgen Adrian Brückner Daniel J.C. Kronauer Brigitte Fiala David A. Donoso M. Alex Smith Bryan Ospina Jara Christoph von Beeren 《Molecular ecology》2019,28(9):2423-2440
Army ants are among the top arthropod predators and considered keystone species in tropical ecosystems. During daily mass raids with many thousand workers, army ants hunt live prey, likely exerting strong top‐down control on prey species. Many tropical sites exhibit a high army ant species diversity (>20 species), suggesting that sympatric species partition the available prey niches. However, whether and to what extent this is achieved has not been intensively studied yet. We therefore conducted a large‐scale diet survey of a community of surface‐raiding army ants at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica. We systematically collected 3,262 prey items from eleven army ant species (genera Eciton, Nomamyrmex and Neivamyrmex). Prey items were classified as ant prey or non‐ant prey. The prey nearly exclusively consisted of other ants (98%), and most booty was ant brood (87%). Using morphological characters and DNA barcoding, we identified a total of 1,103 ant prey specimens to the species level. One hundred twenty‐nine ant species were detected among the army ant prey, representing about 30% of the known local ant diversity. Using weighted bipartite network analyses, we show that prey specialization in army ants is unexpectedly high and prey niche overlap very small. Besides food niche differentiation, we uncovered a spatiotemporal niche differentiation in army ant raid activity. We discuss competition‐driven multidimensional niche differentiation and predator–prey arms races as possible mechanisms underlying prey specialization in army ants. By combining systematic prey sampling with species‐level prey identification and network analyses, our integrative approach can guide future research by portraying how predator–prey interactions in complex communities can be reliably studied, even in cases where morphological prey identification is infeasible. 相似文献
12.
Piotr Łukasik Justin A. Newton Jon G. Sanders Yi Hu Corrie S. Moreau Daniel J. C. Kronauer Sean O'Donnell Ryuichi Koga Jacob A. Russell 《Molecular ecology》2017,26(14):3808-3825
Symbiotic bacteria play important roles in the biology of their arthropod hosts. Yet the microbiota of many diverse and influential groups remain understudied, resulting in a paucity of information on the fidelities and histories of these associations. Motivated by prior findings from a smaller scale, 16S rRNA‐based study, we conducted a broad phylogenetic and geographic survey of microbial communities in the ecologically dominant New World army ants (Formicidae: Dorylinae). Amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene across 28 species spanning the five New World genera showed that the microbial communities of army ants consist of very few common and abundant bacterial species. The two most abundant microbes, referred to as Unclassified Firmicutes and Unclassified Entomoplasmatales, appear to be specialized army ant associates that dominate microbial communities in the gut lumen of three host genera, Eciton, Labidus and Nomamyrmex. Both are present in other army ant genera, including those from the Old World, suggesting that army ant symbioses date back to the Cretaceous. Extensive sequencing of bacterial protein‐coding genes revealed multiple strains of these symbionts coexisting within colonies, but seldom within the same individual ant. Bacterial strains formed multiple host species‐specific lineages on phylogenies, which often grouped strains from distant geographic locations. These patterns deviate from those seen in other social insects and raise intriguing questions about the influence of army ant colony swarm‐founding and within‐colony genetic diversity on strain coexistence, and the effects of hosting a diverse suite of symbiont strains on colony ecology. 相似文献
13.
Unlike most social insects, Eciton burchellii army ants cannot thermoregulate through nest construction. Instead, army ants thermoregulate behaviorally by creating a living
nest (bivouac), shifting its position and structure, and potentially through nest site selection. We hypothesized that bivouac site selection
is critical to E. burchellii colony survival. We predicted elevation above sea level, with associated variation in local abiotic environments, would affect
bivouac site selection by E. burchellii colonies. We also expected nest sites to buffer against ambient variation in abiotic conditions. We recorded bivouac site
choice by E. burchellii colonies at sites ranging from lowland wet forests to montane forests and reviewed previously published data. We measured
microclimatic variables associated with nest sites in high-elevation montane forests: temperature, relative humidity, and
light levels. Bivouac site selection varied with elevation: as elevation increased, fewer bivouac sites were exposed, more
were underground, and fewer were elevated (in trees). High-elevation bivouac sites moderated diurnal temperature variation
and had higher relative humidity levels and lower light levels than ambient conditions. The buffering of ambient temperature
and humidity decreased with elevation in montane forests, suggesting that abiotic extremes in bivouac sites at the highest
elevations may contribute to the upper elevational range limits of E. burchellii. 相似文献
14.
STEFANIE M. BERGHOFF EBERHARD WURST ERNST EBERMANN ANA B. SENDOVA‐FRANKS CARL W. RETTENMEYER NIGEL R. FRANKS 《Ecological Entomology》2009,34(6):684-695
- 1 Recently, Hughes et al. (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 23 , 672–677, 2008) have theorised that symbionts of large, long‐lived, homeostatic, and well defended social insect colonies should mostly be of low virulence. If the symbionts are rare, i.e. few workers are co‐infected, competition between symbionts should be minimal and they should be selected to avoid over‐exploiting their hosts.
- 2 Here we analyse the mites that occur on Eciton burchellii army ant workers and note that our findings are consistent with the predictions from evolutionary theory.
- 3 The mites were species diverse but rare; only 5% of the 3146 workers we examined from 20 army ant colonies had mites. Only one worker was co‐infected by mites of different species and the one relatively common parasitic mite (Rettenmeyerius carli) was limited to only two individuals per ant.
- 4 We also showed that certain mites are more common on workers in nomadic rather than statary army ant colonies and that different worker castes differed in their infestation patterns.
- 5 We suggest that the three traits E. burchellii and honey bees (Apis mellifera) have in common (queens with very high mating frequencies, propagation by colony fission, and low number of parasites among the mite species they host) are associated with one another. Colonies that fission are likely to inherit symbionts and multiple mating will promote genetic diversity within colonies, which may help to limit the abundance of deleterious mites.
- 6 We conclude that most of the symbiotic mites found on workers of the army ant E. burchellii are probably relatively harmless guests, exploiting their hosts for phoresis or, for example, to use their waste deposits.
15.
Cryptic diversity,high host specificity and reproductive synchronization in army ant‐associated Vatesus beetles 下载免费PDF全文
Christoph von Beeren Munetoshi Maruyama Daniel J. C. Kronauer 《Molecular ecology》2016,25(4):990-1005
Army ants and their arthropod symbionts represent one of the most species‐rich animal associations on Earth, and constitute a fascinating example of diverse host–symbiont interaction networks. However, despite decades of research, our knowledge of army ant symbionts remains fragmentary due to taxonomic ambiguity and the inability to study army ants in the laboratory. Here, we present an integrative approach that allows us to reliably determine species boundaries, assess biodiversity, match different developmental stages and sexes, and to study the life cycles of army ant symbionts. This approach is based on a combination of community sampling, DNA barcoding, morphology and physiology. As a test case, we applied this approach to the staphylinid beetle genus Vatesus and its different Eciton army ant host species at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. DNA barcoding led to the discovery of cryptic biodiversity and, in combination with extensive community sampling, revealed strict host partitioning with no overlap in host range. Using DNA barcoding, we were also able to match the larval stages of all focal Vatesus species. In combination with studies of female reproductive physiology, this allowed us to reconstruct almost the complete life cycles of the different beetle species. We show that Vatesus beetles are highly adapted to the symbiosis with army ants, in that their reproduction and larval development are synchronized with the stereotypical reproductive and behavioural cycles of their host colonies. Our approach can now be used to study army ant‐symbiont communities more broadly, and to obtain novel insights into co‐evolutionary and ecological dynamics in species‐rich host–symbiont systems. 相似文献
16.
Acacia trees in Costa Rica have an obligate mutualism with three species of Pseudomyrmex ants, which vigorously defend their host tree from insect and mammalian herbivores. Depending on the size and species of
ant colony, individual acacia trees may be differentially protected. For animals able to discern between weakly and highly
aggressive ant colonies, costs of ant stings from less active colonies might be offset by nutritional value acquired from
feeding on acacia fruit or ant larvae in swollen thorns. We examined foraging selectivity of capuchin monkeys on acacia trees
in Santa Rosa National Park, Costa Rica. We measured four characteristics of the acacia trees from which capuchins fed and
of acacias immediately adjacent to those in which the monkeys fed: diameter at breast height (DBH), accessibility, species
of closest tree and ant species present. We found that capuchins prefer to forage in acacias that are large and accessible.
We also made two measurements of ant colony activity on each tree, one before and one after disturbing the ant colony. We
found that the three species of mutualistic ants differ in baseline activity levels and that mutualistic ants are more active
than non-mutualistic ant species found in acacia trees. We also found that capuchins foraged more frequently in trees colonized
by non-mutualistic ants, but the explanatory value (r
2) of this model was low. Furthermore, monkeys did not discriminate between acacias on the basis of baseline ant activity or
the ant colony’s response to disturbance. We conclude that these monkeys select acacia trees in which to forage based on characteristics
of the trees rather than the ants. In addition, our study suggests that white-faced capuchins act as predators on the acacia
ants but they probably benefit the dispersal and reproductive success of acacia trees. Capuchins may in fact function as an
additional mutualistic partner for acacia trees via seed dispersal, but they must overcome the ants’ defense of the trees
to do so. 相似文献
17.
Kaloyan Ivanov Owen M. Lockhart Joe Keiper B. Michael Walton 《Biological invasions》2011,13(9):1945-1950
In 2005, the non-native Nylanderia flavipes was first recorded from Ohio. Here, we present the results of a baseline study designed to assess the status of this exotic
species in northeastern Ohio and to explore its potential impacts on local ant communities and the extent to which it has
been incorporated into the diet of a native predator, the red-backed salamander. At the sites where N. flavipes occurred, we found a sixfold increase in total ant abundance, with 87% of all ants collected being N. flavipes. The high numerical dominance of N. flavipes did not lead to observable changes in the species richness and abundance of the native ant community. At baits, N. flavipes did not engage in interspecific combat and did not exhibit aggression towards native ants. Thus, aggression and interference
competition are not likely factors explaining the high local abundance of N. flavipes. Red-backed salamanders have incorporated N. flavipes into their diet, but further research is needed to understand the interactions of N. flavipes within the forest-floor food web. Although we did not detect changes in the local ant communities in the presence of N. flavipes, we argue that this species’ high local abundance and ability to forage at cooler temperatures may give it a competitive
advantage and thereby affect native ants through exploitative competition. 相似文献
18.
Oil palm plantations today cover large areas of former tropical lowland rain forest in Southeast Asia and are rapidly expanding
on the island of Borneo. Study of the community of ground-dwelling ants in different plantations in Sabah, Malaysia, over
2 years using tuna baiting, revealed that the oil palm plantation ground ant community was severely reduced in species richness
in comparison to the forest interior, regardless of age, undergrowth cover, or proximity to neighbouring forest. The results
indicate that oil palm plantation habitats, now covering more than 15% of Sabah’s land area, can sustain only about 5% of
the ground-dwelling ant species of the forest interior. Nine of the 23 ant species baited in the plantations were never recorded
inside forest. All numerically dominant ants were non-forest species. The most common species was Anoplolepis gracilipes, an invasive species present at 70% of all bait sites and known to cause ‘ecological meltdowns’ in other situations. The
low frequency and species number of forest ground ants indicates that oil palm plantations act as effective dispersal barriers
leading to community isolation in rain forest remnants. The replacement of natural forests with oil palm plantations poses
a serious threat to the conservation of biodiversity on Borneo if similar results are confirmed in other taxa. 相似文献
19.
《Comptes rendus biologies》2014,337(11):642-645
It was recently shown that Pheidole megacephala colonies (an invasive species originating from Africa) counterattack when raided by the army ant, Eciton burchellii. The subsequent contact permits Pheidole cuticular compounds (that constitute the “colony odour”) to be transferred onto the raiding Eciton, which are then not recognised by their colony-mates and killed. Using a simple method for transferring cuticular compounds, we tested if this phenomenon occurs for Neotropical ants. Eciton workers rubbed with ants from four sympatric species were released among their colony-mates. Individuals rubbed with Solenopsis saevissima or Camponotus blandus workers were attacked, but not those rubbed with Atta sexdens, Pheidole fallax or with colony-mates (control lot). So, the chemicals of certain sympatric ant species, but not others, trigger intra-colonial aggressiveness in Eciton. We conclude that prey-ant chemicals might have played a role in the evolution of army ant predatory behaviour, likely influencing prey specialization in certain cases. 相似文献
20.
Carlos Lara Emilia Martinez‐Bolaos Karla Lpez‐Vzquez Cecilia Díaz‐Castelazo Citlalli Castillo‐Guevara Mariana Cuautle 《Entomological Science》2020,23(2):128-141
Studies on the responses of ant–plant interactions to land‐use change have mainly focused on tropical habitats, usually without considering the impacts on the structure of interaction networks. Here we show that land‐use modifies the structure of the ant–plant interaction networks in a temperate habitat. Ant–plant interactions and plant diversity were recorded in an oak forest and agricultural land in central Mexico. We registered five ant species in the oak forest, and four ant species in the agricultural land. Plant diversity was higher in the agricultural land than in the oak forest. In the ant–plant networks of both sites, our results showed a higher dependence of ants on the plants on which they feed than vice versa, and the ants Formica spp. and the plants Barkleyanthus salicifolius were the species with the most strength and greatest influence in the network structure. The ant–plant network in the oak forest showed a nested structure. However, the network at the agricultural land site showed non‐nestedness; the identity of both ants and plants with the highest values of specialization was different and the number of ant species in the network was decreased, but the number of plant species with which they interacted significantly increased. Both ant–plant networks were equally tolerant to simulated extinction of individual species. We conclude that temperate forest ant–plant networks can be inherently fragile and susceptible to the effects of agricultural land‐use change, not on the number of interacting species but on their identity. 相似文献