Ant taxonomic and functional diversity show differential response to plantation age in two contrasting biomes

Santoandré, Santiago; Filloy, Julieta; Zurita, Gustavo A.; Bellocq, M. Isabel

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2019.01.021

Cited by 28 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 64 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…We quantified five morphological traits commonly investigated in ants that often relate to specialization in species foraging and habitat complexity (Guilherme et al, ; Silva & Brandão, ). The hypothesized functions of such morphometric traits are linked to metabolism, resource acquisition, trophic position, and/or habitat use of the species (for further details on these traits and their presumed functions, see Parr et al, ; Santoandré et al, ; Weiser & Kaspari, ). We measured the following: (a) Weber's length (WL)—the maximum length from the anterior edge of the pronotum to the posterior edge of the propodeum.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The biology of most ant species is poorly known. Consequently, most studies that focused on ant functional traits have relied on morphological traits with known or presumed ecological functions in ants (Liu, Guénard, Blanchard, Peng, & Economo, 2016;Santoandré, Filloy, Zurita, & Bellocq, 2019). Although we sampled ant species of all genera, we measured functional traits only for Pheidole species due to their high dominance among species occurrence in our samples.…”

Section: Functional Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Functional richness shows spatial scale dependency in Pheidole ant assemblages from Neotropical savannas

Neves

Moura

Maravalhas

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is a growing recognition that spatial scale is important for understanding ecological processes shaping community membership, but empirical evidence on this topic is still scarce. Ecological processes such as environmental filtering can decrease functional differences among species and promote functional clustering of species assemblages, whereas interspecific competition can do the opposite. These different ecological processes are expected to take place at different spatial scales, with competition being more likely at finer scales and environmental filtering most likely at coarser scales. We used a comprehensive dataset on species assemblages of a dominant ant genus, Pheidole, in the Cerrado (savanna) biodiversity hotspot to ask how functional richness relates to species richness gradients and whether such relationships vary across spatial scales. Functional richness of Pheidole assemblages decreased with increasing species richness, but such relationship did not vary across different spatial scales. Species were more functionally dissimilar at finer spatial scales, and functional richness increased less than expected with increasing species richness. Our results indicate a tighter packing of the functional volume as richness increases and point out to a primary role for environmental filtering in shaping membership of Pheidole assemblages in Neotropical savannas.OPEN RESEARCH BADGES This article has been awarded Open Materials, Open Data, Preregistered Research Designs Badges. All materials and data are publicly accessible via the Open Science Framework at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.31201jg

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Functional Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional richness shows spatial scale dependency in Pheidole ant assemblages from Neotropical savannas

Neves

Moura

Maravalhas

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Besides, the majority of studies on biodiversity changes among different plantation ages have been conducted mainly in forest biomes (Barlow et al, 2007;Jacoboski et al, 2016;Proença et al, 2010;Wu et al, 2015), showing that mature plantations contribute to maintain biodiversity better than young plantations. The opposite pattern was observed for bird and ant communities in tree plantations developed in grassland sites, where the richness and abundance were the lowest in mature plantations and highest in the grasslands (Corbelli et al, 2015;Filloy et al, 2010;Phifer et al, 2016;Santoandré et al, 2019). However, the influence of environmental factors on species biodiversity patterns along the forest cycle remains unresolved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…The effects of land conversion on ecosystem services will largely depend on how native biodiversity responds to the resulting environmental changes. Further studies revealed that that human land uses that preserve vegetation structure and composition of natural biomes are more used by native species than those anthropogenic habitats that cause drastic environmental changes (Filloy et al, 2010;Santoandré et al, 2019). For instance, tree plantations have more structural similarities to natural forests than crop fields, then promoting suitability for forest biodiversity but less than native forest (Calviño-Cancela, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eucalyptus plantations in temperate grasslands: responses of taxonomic and functional diversity of plant communities to environmental changes

Pairo

Rodriguez

Bellocq

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding how human land-uses impact on local communities is required to implement management and conservational policies and practices. Tree plantations have become one of the fastest-growing land uses in recent decades and their impact on biodiversity was evaluated mainly at the taxonomic level. Our aim was to analyze the effects of changes in environmental drivers along the 12 years eucalypt plantations chronosequence on alfa, beta, taxonomic and functional diversity of understory plant communities. We selected nine plantation ages with three replicates per age and three protected grasslands as reference habitat. At each replicate, we established three plots to measure plant species cover and environmental variables, which are expected to change with plantation age. Results showed that species richness and all diversity indices significantly declined with increasing plantation age. Canopy cover, soil pH, and leaf litter were the most important drivers that explained the decline in taxonomic and functional diversity of plants through the forest plantation. Based on the Path analyses results, canopy cover had an indirect relationship with plant functional diversity mediated by leaf litter, soil pH and plant species richness. The results of the association between functional traits and environmental variables have revealed that high dispersal potential, annual, barochorous, and zoochorous plant species were the functional traits more affected by the eucalypt plantations. Given that leaf litter was negatively associated with all diversity facets, we recommend reducing their accumulation within eucalypt plantation to enhance biodiversity conservation and the provision of pampean grassland ecosystem functions.

show abstract

“…Consequently, from an ecological perspective, the extirpation of species as a result of human disturbances can be considered a novel ecological filter 18,19 ; in addition, human disturbance can influence the condition of existing ecological filters (such as resources availability). Previous studies have shown that the response of populations and communities to human disturbance partially depends on the similarity between the native and the disturbed habitat 20,21 . Land uses maintaining key components from the native habitat, such as specific resources or abiotic conditions, usually preserve the conditions of ecological filters and the diversity of species, whereas land uses that strongly change the filter conditions are used mainly by extra-regional or invasive species with different ecological requirements 20,[22][23][24] .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dung beetles response to livestock management in three different regional contexts

Alonso

Zurita

Bellocq

2020

Sci Rep

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

the response of biological communities to human disturbances depends on factors acting at local and regional scale and on the interaction between them. We compared the response of native forest dung beetle communities to cattle grazing under regional contexts differing on precipitation patterns (Atlantic forest and humid and dry chaco). through multivariate and GLMM analyses we contrasted richness and composition across regions and land uses and explored the role of local and regional variables accounting for those changes. We captured a total of 44101 individuals of 109 species. The interaction between local and regional variables influenced the response to livestock management. in the two wet regions (humid chaco and Atlantic forest) diversity was similar in the native forest regardless of cattle presence but differs strongly in open pastures. In contrast, in the dry Chaco, differences between native forest and land use were not evident. Vegetation structure was a major determinant of species richness, whereas regional climate determined differences in species composition. We concluded that the response of dung beetles to livestock management cannot be generalized for all biomes. in dry ecosystems, dung beetles are probably pre-adapted to environmental conditions imposed by cattle ranching whereas in wet ecosystems the impact of cattle ranching is more significant.

show abstract

Ant taxonomic and functional diversity show differential response to plantation age in two contrasting biomes

Cited by 28 publications

References 64 publications

Functional richness shows spatial scale dependency in Pheidole ant assemblages from Neotropical savannas

Functional richness shows spatial scale dependency in Pheidole ant assemblages from Neotropical savannas

Eucalyptus plantations in temperate grasslands: responses of taxonomic and functional diversity of plant communities to environmental changes

Dung beetles response to livestock management in three different regional contexts

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About