Population responses to environmental change in a tropical ant: the interaction of spatial and temporal dynamics.
Spatial structure can have a profound, but often underappreciated, effect on the temporal dynamics of ecosystems. Here we report on a counterintuitive increase in the population of a tree-nesting ant, Azteca sericeasur, in response to a drastic reduction in the number of potential nesting sites. Thi...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2014-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4026481?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818694771894386688 |
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| author | Doug Jackson John Vandermeer Ivette Perfecto Stacy M Philpott |
| author_facet | Doug Jackson John Vandermeer Ivette Perfecto Stacy M Philpott |
| author_sort | Doug Jackson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Spatial structure can have a profound, but often underappreciated, effect on the temporal dynamics of ecosystems. Here we report on a counterintuitive increase in the population of a tree-nesting ant, Azteca sericeasur, in response to a drastic reduction in the number of potential nesting sites. This surprising result is comprehensible when viewed in the context of the self-organized spatial dynamics of the ants and their effect on the ants' dispersal-limited natural enemies. Approximately 30% of the trees in the study site, a coffee agroecosystem in southern Mexico, were pruned or felled over a two-year period, and yet the abundance of the ant nests more than doubled over the seven-year study. Throughout the transition, the spatial distribution of the ants maintained a power-law distribution - a signal of spatial self organization - but the local clustering of the nests was reduced post-pruning. A cellular automata model incorporating the changed spatial structure of the ants and the resulting partial escape from antagonists reproduced the observed increase in abundance, highlighting how self-organized spatial dynamics can profoundly influence the responses of ecosystems to perturbations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T13:34:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-86a2ceb9e6354cb6849a38c008bcf5e6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T13:34:53Z |
| publishDate | 2014-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-86a2ceb9e6354cb6849a38c008bcf5e62022-12-21T21:46:27ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-0195e9780910.1371/journal.pone.0097809Population responses to environmental change in a tropical ant: the interaction of spatial and temporal dynamics.Doug JacksonJohn VandermeerIvette PerfectoStacy M PhilpottSpatial structure can have a profound, but often underappreciated, effect on the temporal dynamics of ecosystems. Here we report on a counterintuitive increase in the population of a tree-nesting ant, Azteca sericeasur, in response to a drastic reduction in the number of potential nesting sites. This surprising result is comprehensible when viewed in the context of the self-organized spatial dynamics of the ants and their effect on the ants' dispersal-limited natural enemies. Approximately 30% of the trees in the study site, a coffee agroecosystem in southern Mexico, were pruned or felled over a two-year period, and yet the abundance of the ant nests more than doubled over the seven-year study. Throughout the transition, the spatial distribution of the ants maintained a power-law distribution - a signal of spatial self organization - but the local clustering of the nests was reduced post-pruning. A cellular automata model incorporating the changed spatial structure of the ants and the resulting partial escape from antagonists reproduced the observed increase in abundance, highlighting how self-organized spatial dynamics can profoundly influence the responses of ecosystems to perturbations.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4026481?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Doug Jackson John Vandermeer Ivette Perfecto Stacy M Philpott Population responses to environmental change in a tropical ant: the interaction of spatial and temporal dynamics. PLoS ONE |
| title | Population responses to environmental change in a tropical ant: the interaction of spatial and temporal dynamics. |
| title_full | Population responses to environmental change in a tropical ant: the interaction of spatial and temporal dynamics. |
| title_fullStr | Population responses to environmental change in a tropical ant: the interaction of spatial and temporal dynamics. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Population responses to environmental change in a tropical ant: the interaction of spatial and temporal dynamics. |
| title_short | Population responses to environmental change in a tropical ant: the interaction of spatial and temporal dynamics. |
| title_sort | population responses to environmental change in a tropical ant the interaction of spatial and temporal dynamics |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4026481?pdf=render |
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