Range expansion in an introduced social parasite-host species pair

Helms, Jackson A.; Ijelu, Selassie E.; Haddad, Nick M.

doi:10.1007/s10530-019-02011-y

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…These were the two most abundant species in every cropping system in the array after summing across replicates within a treatment. All species we detected were native except T. immigrans and its obligate parasite T. atratulum (Helms et al, 2019).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Bioenergy cropping systems shape ant community composition and functional roles

Haan,

Helms,

Landis

2024

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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The adoption of biomass crops grown for energy is a likely source of major landscape change in coming decades during the transition from fossil fuels. There are a wide range of cropping systems that have not been widely deployed yet but could become commonplace, and our knowledge of their ecological attributes and biodiversity impacts is limited. Ants are prominent and functionally important components of grassland and agricultural ecosystems. Given their outsized influences on ecosystem structure and function, we sought to understand how ant communities are likely to be shaped by a range of bioenergy cropping systems. We characterized ant communities in a long-term experimental array in Michigan, USA containing ten dedicated bioenergy crops including annual monocultures, simple monoculture or near-monoculture perennial grasses, and complex polyculture systems. Community composition differed strongly among cropping systems, and ants were more abundant, species-rich, and functionally diverse in complex systems than in simpler systems, particularly annual crops. Our results illustrate the divergent effects that bioenergy crop adoption could have for ant communities and the important functions they carry out in agroecosystems.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Bioenergy cropping systems shape ant community composition and functional roles

Haan,

Helms,

Landis

2024

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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“…Limited female and symbiont co‐dispersal could represent a significant bottleneck to fungal diversification (and associated microbes). Bottlenecks are a common feature among vertically transmitted symbionts, which generally exhibit eroded genetic variation and reduced genomes compared to horizontally exchanged relatives (Bennett et al., 2014; Douglas, 2010; Helms et al., 2019; Nikoh et al., 2011). Bottlenecks may not only influence population demographics but also the adaptive abilities of co‐dispersed symbionts under varying environments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male‐biased dispersal in a fungus‐gardening ant symbiosis

Matthews

Kellner

Seal

2021

Ecology and Evolution

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For nearly all organisms, dispersal is a fundamental life‐history trait that can shape their ecology and evolution. Variation in dispersal capabilities within a species exists and can influence population genetic structure and ecological interactions. In fungus‐gardening (attine) ants, co‐dispersal of ants and mutualistic fungi is crucial to the success of this obligate symbiosis. Female‐biased dispersal (and gene flow) may be favored in attines because virgin queens carry the responsibility of dispersing the fungi, but a paucity of research has made this conclusion difficult. Here, we investigate dispersal of the fungus‐gardening ant Trachymyrmex septentrionalis using a combination of maternally (mitochondrial DNA) and biparentally inherited (microsatellites) markers. We found three distinct, spatially isolated mitochondrial DNA haplotypes; two were found in the Florida panhandle and the other in the Florida peninsula. In contrast, biparental markers illustrated significant gene flow across this region and minimal spatial structure. The differential patterns uncovered from mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite markers suggest that most long‐distance ant dispersal is male‐biased and that females (and concomitantly the fungus) have more limited dispersal capabilities. Consequently, the limited female dispersal is likely an important bottleneck for the fungal symbiont. This bottleneck could slow fungal genetic diversification, which has significant implications for both ant hosts and fungal symbionts regarding population genetics, species distributions, adaptive responses to environmental change, and coevolutionary patterns.

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“…Nevertheless, evidence for IBD and the formation of a mainly Californian cluster in structure reveal that the populations are not completely admixed (Figures 5b and 7a). Isolation of the Pacific coast population has already been suspected based on the absence of the social parasite Tetramorium atratulum (= Anergates atratulus ; Ward et al, 2015) in those populations (Helms et al, 2019). The Argentine sample differed from the North American samples in all analyses indicating an independent introduction.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%