Ants: Ecology and Impacts in Dead Wood

King, Joshua R.; Warren, Robert J.; Maynard, Daniel S.; Bradford, Mark A.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-75937-1_8

Cited by 19 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 132 publications

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“…This author reported that ant species that are generalist inhabitants of dead wood (i.e., stems, branches, and twigs) can take advantage of the abandoned dead domatia as nesting sites. Since most twig‐dwelling ants, except for carpenter ants in the genus Camponotus , cannot excavate sound wood to build their nests (King et al 2018), they depend on other organisms to create new cavities for them, nesting almost exclusively in abandoned tunnels of wood‐boring beetles (Tschinkel 2002, Powell et al 2011, Novais et al 2017). Similarly here, our results suggest that the entrance holes made by ants (e.g., Azteca ) able to excavate live tissues in domatia of myrmecophytic plants facilitate the access of twig‐dwelling ants into dead domatia after their abandonment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arthropod facilitation mediated by abandoned dead domatia

et al. 2021

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In ant-plant mutualistic interactions, plants provide shelter (domatia) and/or food to ants and in exchange, and ants provide protection against herbivores. After plant tissue senescence, ants are expected to abandon dead domatia, leaving these empty spaces available for other arthropods. In this study, we tested for the role of the mutualistic interaction between Cordia alliodora and Azteca pittieri in promoting new habitats for arthropods through abandoned dead domatia. We predicted that species richness, abundance, and colonization frequency of secondary arthropods would be greater in dead branch domatia (dead domatia) compared with live branch domatia (live domatia). During March 2019, we selected 38 C. alliodora trees in a Mexican tropical dry forest. For each tree, we collected five live and five dead domatia, for 380 domatia in total. We found six morphospecies of secondary arthropods colonizing live domatia, while 42 were present in dead domatia. Ants were the most species-rich group (10 species) in abandoned dead domatia and utilized them as nesting sites (25 nests). Secondary arthropod species richness, abundance, and colonization frequency were greater in dead domatia compared with live domatia. We concluded that the Azteca-Cordia mutualistic interaction is an important habitat facilitator by promoting new habitats for arthropods through abandoned dead domatia.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arthropod facilitation mediated by abandoned dead domatia

et al. 2021

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“…Ants are thermophilic species and their presence in forests is linked to low forest canopy and warmer microclimates [138]. Some species of ants fed upon by bears [26,139] are indeed associated with deadwood [74,76,137,140], which ants use as a substrate or to build nests [141]. In dense forests, high competition levels produce high quantities of deadwood, but in the Apennines, the main driver of deadwood availability is past forest management regimes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Forest Structural and Topographic Effects on Habitat Productivity for the Endangered Apennine Brown Bear

Rositi¹,

Lasinio²,

Ciucci³

2021

Forests

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Any forest management potentially affects the availability and quality of resources for forest-dwelling wildlife populations, including endangered species. One such species is the Apennine brown bear, a small and unique population living in the central Apennines of Italy. The conservation of this relict bear population is hampered by the lack of knowledge of the fine-scale relationships between productivity of key foods and forest structure, as this prevents the design and implementation of effective forest management plans. To address this issue, we sampled the main structural stand attributes within the bear’s range and used multivariate generalized linear mixed models in a Bayesian framework to relate forest structural attributes to proxies of productivity of key bear foods. We found that hard mast was positively associated with both forest typology and high forest system, but negatively related to both the time elapsed since the last forest utilization and the amount of deadwood. The availability of soft-mast producing species was positively related to past forestry practices but negatively associated with steep slopes historically managed with high tree densities and a low silvicultural disturbance. Our findings also suggest that herb cover was negatively affected by terrain steepness and basal area, while herb productivity was positively affected by northern and southern exposure. Additionally, richness of forest ants was associated with forests characterized by low volume and high density. Our findings confirm that the productivity of natural bear foods is strongly affected by forest structural and topographical characteristics and are relevant as preliminary information for forest management practices to support the long-term conservation of Apennine bears.

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“…L'orso bruno marsicano consuma anche insetti, soprattutto formiche. Il legno morto e la densità di alberi rappresentano i parametri strutturali maggiormente legati alla presenza di formiche (Arnan et al 2009, King et al 2018. Sebbene non esistano interventi selvicolturali direttamente correlati alla presenza di formiche, si ritiene che per migliorare i requisiti di habitat e favorirne la colonizzazione si possa adottare una selvicoltura basata sulle aperture di gap e sull'incremento della quota di ecotoni (Punttila et al 1991).…”

Section: Obiettivo Generale Logica Azioni Specificheunclassified

Forest management guidelines to promote the conservation of Apennine brown bear in Italy

Rositi¹,

Console²,

Santo³

et al. 2019

Forest@

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Forest management guidelines to promote the conservation of Apennine brown bear in Italy Forests provide a wide range of important ecosystem services and, among these benefits, biodiversity and wildlife habitat. Forest management (including no active control) deeply affects wildlife management, since it can alter habitat structure and productivity, speed-up evolution of ecosystems, and impact on wildlife ability to survive and reproduce. Unfortunately still very often, practitioners, forest planners and policy-makers fail to understand this opportunity. Forest management can maintain and enhance quality, quantity and availability of natural resources for wildlife, and therefore it is a valuable management tool long recognized in the wildlife practice. This is particularly true for species associated to forest ecosystems which are threatened or endangered, such as the Apennine brown bear (Ursus arctos marsicanus). Based on an extensive literature review on forest management-bear interactions, we report recommended management actions and associated working techniques, hereby illustrated and discussed in order to define a set of forest management guidelines meant to promote and encourage the adoption of adequate silviculture practices in Apennine forests, as well as to facilitate and support the range expansion of Apennine brown bear beyond its current core distribution. Our aim is also to present these guidelines to a wider scientific audience and decision-makers to foster their implementation into management practices, especially within protected areas. Finally, our ultimate goal is to fill the gap between disciplines such as silviculture and animal ecology, with the aim of stimulating the multidisciplinary approach requested not only for the conservation of the Apennine brown bear but for the integrated and enhanced management of wildlife in general.

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Ants: Ecology and Impacts in Dead Wood

Cited by 19 publications

References 132 publications

Arthropod facilitation mediated by abandoned dead domatia

Arthropod facilitation mediated by abandoned dead domatia

Assessing Forest Structural and Topographic Effects on Habitat Productivity for the Endangered Apennine Brown Bear

Forest management guidelines to promote the conservation of Apennine brown bear in Italy

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