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

Abstract

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

Effects of Land Cover on the Taxonomic and Functional Diversity of the Bird Communities on an Urban Subtropical Mountain

“…In addition, the reasons for the low number of birds in winter may include bird migration, hibernation, and decreased activity aimed at minimizing heat expenditure. Species richness and functional richness cannot be described by simple linear relationships [37]. Theoretically, an increase in species richness typically leads to an increase in functional richness.…”

Environmental filtering drives assembly of diatom communities over evolutionary time‐scales

“…Deterministic ecological processes affect variation in species richness and, hence, in functional richness in a given assemblage (Neves et al., 2019). Environmental filtering, for example, has been shown to decrease functional differences among species and lead to a more densely packed morphospace (e.g.…”

Macroecological patterns of functional and phylogenetic diversity vary between ground and arboreal assemblages in Neotropical savanna ants

“…Several recent studies have analyzed the functional and/or phylogenetic diversity of communities of ants (Blaimer et al 2015, Smith et al 2015, Liu et al 2016, Arnan et al 2017, Agavekar et al 2019), a dominant insect group that regulates a wide variety of ecosystem services, such as seed dispersal, decomposition, nutrient cycling, and biological control (Del Toro et al 2012). Many of these studies have documented how the different dimensions of diversity vary among habitat types (Liu et al 2016, Agavekar et al 2019) or along environmental gradients (Smith et al 2015, Arnan et al 2017, Neves et al 2019, Neves et al 2023). Vertical stratification is a common feature of ant assemblages, especially in the tropics (Brühl et al 1998, Vasconcelos and Vilhena 2006, Wilkie et al 2010, Antoniazzi et al 2021, Leponce et al 2021, Leahy et al 2022, Xing et al 2023).…”