How ants drop out: ant abundance on tropical mountains.
In tropical wet forests, ants are a large proportion of the animal biomass, but the factors determining abundance are not well understood. We characterized ant abundance in the litter layer of 41 mature wet forest sites spread throughout Central America (Chiapas, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2014-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4123913?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1819064361840279552 |
|---|---|
| author | John T Longino Michael G Branstetter Robert K Colwell |
| author_facet | John T Longino Michael G Branstetter Robert K Colwell |
| author_sort | John T Longino |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In tropical wet forests, ants are a large proportion of the animal biomass, but the factors determining abundance are not well understood. We characterized ant abundance in the litter layer of 41 mature wet forest sites spread throughout Central America (Chiapas, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica) and examined the impact of elevation (as a proxy for temperature) and community species richness. Sites were intentionally chosen to minimize variation in precipitation and seasonality. From sea level to 1500 m ant abundance very gradually declined, community richness declined more rapidly than abundance, and the local frequency of the locally most common species increased. These results suggest that within this elevational zone, density compensation is acting, maintaining high ant abundance as richness declines. In contrast, in sites above 1500 m, ant abundance dropped abruptly to much lower levels. Among these high montane sites, community richness explained much more of the variation in abundance than elevation, and there was no evidence of density compensation. The relative stability of abundance below 1500 m may be caused by opposing effects of temperature on productivity and metabolism. Lower temperatures may decrease productivity and thus the amount of food available for consumers, but slower metabolisms of consumers may allow maintenance of higher biomass at lower resource supply rates. Ant communities at these lower elevations may be highly interactive, the result of continuous habitat presence over geological time. High montane sites may be ephemeral in geological time, resulting in non-interactive communities dominated by historical and stochastic processes. Abundance in these sites may be determined by the number of species that manage to colonize and/or avoid extinction on mountaintops. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T15:29:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5f5d0a05e5174347a5e3053cfc451e4c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T15:29:21Z |
| publishDate | 2014-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-5f5d0a05e5174347a5e3053cfc451e4c2022-12-21T18:58:49ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-0198e10403010.1371/journal.pone.0104030How ants drop out: ant abundance on tropical mountains.John T LonginoMichael G BranstetterRobert K ColwellIn tropical wet forests, ants are a large proportion of the animal biomass, but the factors determining abundance are not well understood. We characterized ant abundance in the litter layer of 41 mature wet forest sites spread throughout Central America (Chiapas, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica) and examined the impact of elevation (as a proxy for temperature) and community species richness. Sites were intentionally chosen to minimize variation in precipitation and seasonality. From sea level to 1500 m ant abundance very gradually declined, community richness declined more rapidly than abundance, and the local frequency of the locally most common species increased. These results suggest that within this elevational zone, density compensation is acting, maintaining high ant abundance as richness declines. In contrast, in sites above 1500 m, ant abundance dropped abruptly to much lower levels. Among these high montane sites, community richness explained much more of the variation in abundance than elevation, and there was no evidence of density compensation. The relative stability of abundance below 1500 m may be caused by opposing effects of temperature on productivity and metabolism. Lower temperatures may decrease productivity and thus the amount of food available for consumers, but slower metabolisms of consumers may allow maintenance of higher biomass at lower resource supply rates. Ant communities at these lower elevations may be highly interactive, the result of continuous habitat presence over geological time. High montane sites may be ephemeral in geological time, resulting in non-interactive communities dominated by historical and stochastic processes. Abundance in these sites may be determined by the number of species that manage to colonize and/or avoid extinction on mountaintops.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4123913?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | John T Longino Michael G Branstetter Robert K Colwell How ants drop out: ant abundance on tropical mountains. PLoS ONE |
| title | How ants drop out: ant abundance on tropical mountains. |
| title_full | How ants drop out: ant abundance on tropical mountains. |
| title_fullStr | How ants drop out: ant abundance on tropical mountains. |
| title_full_unstemmed | How ants drop out: ant abundance on tropical mountains. |
| title_short | How ants drop out: ant abundance on tropical mountains. |
| title_sort | how ants drop out ant abundance on tropical mountains |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4123913?pdf=render |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT johntlongino howantsdropoutantabundanceontropicalmountains AT michaelgbranstetter howantsdropoutantabundanceontropicalmountains AT robertkcolwell howantsdropoutantabundanceontropicalmountains |