Elevational gradients in phylogenetic structure of ant communities reveal the interplay of biotic and abiotic constraints on diversity

Macháč, Antonín; Janda, Milan; Dunn, Robert R.; Sanders, Nathan J.

doi:10.1111/j.1600-0587.2010.06629.x

Cited by 199 publications

(267 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…For example, one possibility is that abiotic filtering predominates in cold climates, and interspecific competition predominates in more climatically benign environments at low latitudes and elevations [5,6]. For the ant communities examined here, there was only a weak relationship between climate and community phylogenetic structure when using the most restrictive and ecologically realistic definition of the source pool.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Strong influence of regional species pools on continent-wide structuring of local communities

et al. 2011

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There is a long tradition in ecology of evaluating the relative contribution of the regional species pool and local interactions on the structure of local communities. Similarly, a growing number of studies assess the phylogenetic structure of communities, relative to that in the regional species pool, to examine the interplay between broad-scale evolutionary and fine-scale ecological processes. Finally, a renewed interest in the influence of species source pools on communities has shown that the definition of the source pool influences interpretations of patterns of community structure. We use a continent-wide dataset of local ant communities and implement ecologically explicit source pool definitions to examine the relative importance of regional species pools and local interactions for shaping community structure. Then we assess which factors underlie systematic variation in the structure of communities along climatic gradients. We find that the average phylogenetic relatedness of species in ant communities decreases from tropical to temperate regions, but the strength of this relationship depends on the level of ecological realism in the definition of source pools. We conclude that the evolution of climatic niches influences the phylogenetic structure of regional source pools and that the influence of regional source pools on local community structure is strong.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Strong influence of regional species pools on continent-wide structuring of local communities

et al. 2011

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“…Spatial hypotheses include area and mid-domain effects (Rosenzweig 1995, Colwell and Lees 2000, McCain 2007b. Historical factors, such as phylogeny, niche conservatism, and time may also influence diversity patterns (Ricklefs and Schluter 1993, Wiens and Donoghue 2004, Wiens and Graham 2005, Machac et al 2011, Smith et al 2014, Weiser et al 2018. Niche conservatism and habitat filtering can limit access to different portions of an elevational gradient, favoring some clades over others.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The truncated bell: an enigmatic but pervasive elevational diversity pattern in Middle American ants

Longino

Branstetter

2018

Ecography

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Studies on elevation gradients in Panama and Costa Rica have shown that leaf-litter ants exhibit a mid-elevation peak in diversity. This diversity pattern has been observed in other groups and regions, but uncertainty remains as to just how pervasive it is and what might explain it. Here we examine the robustness of the mid-elevation peak in ant diversity across the entire Middle American corridor, from Veracruz, Mexico, to Costa Rica. We sampled 56 sites distributed throughout Middle America. All were in closed-canopy evergreen wet forest, spanning 11° latitude, from near sea level to 2600 m elevation. Ants were extracted from 100 litter samples from each site and identified to genus or species. Model selection was performed on richness and diversity variables to test if ant diversity best fits a linear model or one allowing for a mid-elevation peak. Linear models were also used to examine the relationships among diversity measures and temperature, precipitation, and seasonality. Species richness measures and diversity indices that incorporate relative abundance show a similar relationship to elevation throughout the region: a truncated bell curve with a mode near 400 m. A cubic relationship is statistically favored over quadratic or linear. Temperature is a significant correlate with diversity, but does not predict a bell-curve. Precipitation and precipitation seasonality fail to explain much of the variability, and no combination of environmental variables predicts a bell curve. Potential causes of the truncated bell curve include lowland biotic attrition, mid-point attractors, and ecotonal transitions from lowland to montane communities. Analysis of 17 subclades within ants mostly showed the same truncated curve but six clades were anomalous. Distinctive behavioral or historical features potentially explain their patterns.

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“…Previous studies have shown that local species richness of ants and termites is influenced by environmental factors, such as temperature, rainfall, and vegetation (Benson & Harada, 1988;Silva & Brandão, 1999;Gathorne-Hardy et al, 2001;Oliveira & Del-Claro, 2005;Del-Claro, 2008;Jones & Eggleton, 2011). There has also been some evidence that increasing altitude and decrease of temperature decrease species richness (Kusnezov, 1957;Collins, 1980;Ward, 2000;Gathorne-Hardy et al, 2001) and that the phylogenetic structure might be involved in this process, specially in the temperate forests (Machac et al, 2011).…”

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Richness of Termites and Ants in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil

Diehl¹,

Diehl‐Fleig²,

Albuquerque³

et al. 2014

Sociobiology

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Previous studies on the effects of environmental factors, such as altitude, latitude, temperature, deforestation, forest fragmentation, fire, and flood on the community structure of termites and ants were conducted in various regions of Brazil; few of them were carried out in the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Here we describe termites and ants diversity at different sites along the four geomorphologic units of this state. We recorded 16 taxa of termites, of which three are new state records, increasing to 19 the number of termite species known to occur in the state. Accordingly, we also found 73 species and 115 morphospecies of ants, of which only one was a new record, raising to 265 taxa the number of ant species known to occur in the state. As expected, we found a higher species richness of ants than termites. The low richness of both groups relative to other Brazilian regions could be a consequence of the subtropical to temperate climate in the state, since most portions of the state are below 30o latitude, the study areas be above 500 m altitude, and other environmental characteristics of each site. We suggest a positive relationship between species richness of termites and altitude, while ant richness indicated an inverse relationship. However, our data are not conclusive, due to the low number of replications in each altitude, particularly for termites. This study is unique in presenting an updated checklist of termites and ants in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

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Elevational gradients in phylogenetic structure of ant communities reveal the interplay of biotic and abiotic constraints on diversity

Cited by 199 publications

References 62 publications

Strong influence of regional species pools on continent-wide structuring of local communities

Strong influence of regional species pools on continent-wide structuring of local communities

The truncated bell: an enigmatic but pervasive elevational diversity pattern in Middle American ants

Richness of Termites and Ants in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil

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