Cryptic niche differentiation in West African savannah termites as indicated by stable isotopes

Schyra, Janine; Scheu, Stefan; Korb, Judith

doi:10.1111/een.12687

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Noteworthy, our study is limited to temperate forests with C3 vegetation type. The difference in δ 13 C values between plants with C3 and C4 photosynthesis observed, for example, in savannas provides more variable isotopic background and thus may serve as a promising framework to study niche conservatism in feeding strategies and resource specialization of animals (Codron et al, ; Schyra, Scheu, & Korb, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trophic consistency of supraspecific taxa in below‐ground invertebrate communities: Comparison across lineages and taxonomic ranks

2019

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Animals that have similar morphological traits are expected to share similar ecological niches. This statement applies to individual animals within a species and thus species often serve as the functional units in ecological studies. Species are further grouped into higher‐ranked taxonomic units based on their morphological similarity and thus are also expected to be ecologically similar. On the other hand, theory predicts that strong competition between closely related species may result in differentiation of ecological niches. Due to high diversity and limited taxonomic expertise, soil food webs are often resolved using supraspecific taxa such as families, orders or even classes as functional units. Here, we tested the trophic differentiation and consistency of supraspecific taxa across major lineages of temperate forest soil invertebrates: Annelida, Chelicerata, Myriapoda, Crustacea and Hexapoda. Published data on stable isotope compositions of carbon and nitrogen were used to infer basal resources and trophic level, and explore the relationship between taxonomic and trophic dissimilarity of local populations. Genera and families had normal and unimodal distributions of isotopic niches, suggesting that supraspecific taxa are trophically consistent. The isotopic niche of local populations varied considerably resulting in large overlap of niches among species. Within the same genus, the effect of species identity on stable isotope composition of populations was not significant in 92% of cases. More than 50% of the variability in Δ15N values (trophic level) across lineages was explained by classes and orders, while the variability in Δ13C values (basal resources) was explained mostly by families and genera. The variability in stable isotope composition in Chelicerata and Hexapoda was explained by lower taxonomic ranks than in Myriapoda. We compiled a comprehensive list of mean Δ13C and Δ15N values of invertebrate taxa from temperate forest soils allowing to refine soil food web models when measurements of trophic niches of local populations are not feasible. Supraspecific taxa are meaningful as trophic nodes in food web studies, but the consistency varies among taxa and the choice of taxonomic resolution depends on the research question; generally, identification of taxa should be more detailed in more diverse taxonomic groups. A http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.13309/suppinfo is available for this article.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trophic consistency of supraspecific taxa in below‐ground invertebrate communities: Comparison across lineages and taxonomic ranks

2019

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“…Additionally, the authors reported significant differences in the δ 13 C and δ 15 N values between castes of the same colony suggesting that the nutritional contribution of fungal symbiont (Termitomyces) varies between castes within the same colony [40]. These studies demonstrate the utility of adding to the African termite isotope database while distinguishing between taxa, habitat type, seasonality, as well as caste (see also [60][61][62]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Further, one should note that previous studies [58,60] that found substantially higher δ 13 C values in Macrotermes, were conducted in environments outside of the range of extant chimpanzees, which suggest that these locations lack the climate and vegetation structure chimpanzees need to survive. Direct comparisons between the Macrotermes isotope values presented here and in previous studies are further complicated due to varying sampling methodologies.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 91%

Limited evidence of C4 plant consumption in mound building Macrotermes termites from savanna woodland chimpanzee sites

et al. 2021

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Stable isotope analysis is an increasingly used molecular tool to reconstruct the diet and ecology of elusive primates such as unhabituated chimpanzees. The consumption of C4 plant feeding termites by chimpanzees may partly explain the relatively high carbon isotope values reported for some chimpanzee communities. However, the modest availability of termite isotope data as well as the diversity and cryptic ecology of termites potentially consumed by chimpanzees obscures our ability to assess the plausibility of these termites as a C4 resource. Here we report the carbon and nitrogen isotope values from 79 Macrotermes termite samples from six savanna woodland chimpanzee research sites across equatorial Africa. Using mixing models, we estimated the proportion of Macrotermes C4 plant consumption across savanna woodland sites. Additionally, we tested for isotopic differences between termite colonies in different vegetation types and between the social castes within the same colony in a subset of 47 samples from 12 mounds. We found that Macrotermes carbon isotope values were indistinguishable from those of C3 plants. Only 5 to 15% of Macrotermes diets were comprised of C4 plants across sites, suggesting that they cannot be considered a C4 food resource substantially influencing the isotope signatures of consumers. In the Macrotermes subsample, vegetation type and caste were significantly correlated with termite carbon values, but not with nitrogen isotope values. Large Macrotermes soldiers, preferentially consumed by chimpanzees, had comparably low carbon isotope values relative to other termite castes. We conclude that Macrotermes consumption is unlikely to result in high carbon isotope values in either extant chimpanzees or fossil hominins.

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“…The only studies directly comparable to our study come from Africa. There phylogenetic community analyses imply random processes [49], but also evidence for interspecific competition [12,71] and environmental filtering [13], depending on the study site, disturbance regime, and presence of a dominant mound building termite species. Thus, we currently cannot derive any general conclusions and more similar studies are needed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenetic Community Structure and Niche Differentiation in Termites of the Tropical Dry Forests of Colombia

Daza

Korb

2019

Insects

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The mechanisms that structure species communities are still debated. We addressed this question for termite assemblages from tropical dry forests in Colombia. These forests are endangered and poorly understood ecosystems and termites are important ecosystem engineers in the tropics. Using biodiversity and environmental data, combined with phylogenetic community analyses, trait mapping, and stable isotopes studies, we investigated the termite community composition of three protected dry forests in Colombia. Our data suggest that the structuring mechanisms differed between sites. Phylogenetic overdispersion of termite assemblages correlated with decreasing rainfall and elevation and increasing temperature. Food niche traits—classified as feeding groups and quantified by δ15N‰ and δ13C‰ isotope signatures—were phylogenetically conserved. Hence, the overdispersion pattern implies increasing interspecific competition with decreasing drier and warmer conditions, which is also supported by fewer species occurring at the driest site. Our results are in line with a hypothesis that decreased biomass production limits resource availability for termites, which leads to competition. Along with this comes a diet shift: termites from drier plots had higher δ13C signatures, reflecting higher δ13C values in the litter and more C4 plants. Our study shows how a phylogenetic community approach combined with trait analyses can contribute to gaining the first insights into mechanisms structuring whole termite assemblages.

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Cryptic niche differentiation in West African savannah termites as indicated by stable isotopes

Cited by 7 publications

References 40 publications

Trophic consistency of supraspecific taxa in below‐ground invertebrate communities: Comparison across lineages and taxonomic ranks

Trophic consistency of supraspecific taxa in below‐ground invertebrate communities: Comparison across lineages and taxonomic ranks

Limited evidence of C4 plant consumption in mound building Macrotermes termites from savanna woodland chimpanzee sites

Phylogenetic Community Structure and Niche Differentiation in Termites of the Tropical Dry Forests of Colombia

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