Resource use and food preferences in understory ant communities along a complete elevational gradient in Papua New Guinea

Orivel, Jérôme; Klimeš, Petr; Novotný, Vojtěch; Leponce, Maurice

doi:10.1111/btp.12539

Cited by 18 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 42 publications

(81 reference statements)

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“…While most studies using standard baiting protocols were done in the tropics and temperate regions (e.g. Bestelmeyer et al, 2000;Kaspari et al, 2012;Fowler et al, 2014;Véle & Modlinger, 2016), there is a lack of such studies along mountain slopes or in alpine areas (but see Peters et al, 2014;Spotti et al, 2015;Orivel et al, 2018). The only study we were able to fi nd that explores feeding preferences of ants in an alpine setting is that of Spotti et al 2015, with just one site located in an alpine environment above the tree line.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bait visitation by Formica lemani (Hymenoptera: Fomicidae) indicates shortage of carbohydrates in alpine grasslands

Guariento¹,

Martini²,

Fiedler³

2018

Eur. J. Entomol.

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Insights can be gained by analysing the feeding decisions of animals in terms of nutrient demands at a species or community level. Using carbohydrate and protein food baits, resource use and food preferences of Formica (Serviformica) lemani were determined at nine locations situated at different altitudes (1875 to 2400 m a.s.l.) in the alpine grassland belt above the tree line in Austria and northern Italy. F. lemani is the most common species of ant in this habitat. Sucrose baits placed around ant colonies were visited by signifi cantly (3.9 times) more workers than protein baits. This indicates that sources of sugar (carbohydrate) are in short supply in the alpine zone, whereas availability of prey items appears to be less constraining. Overall, we recorded a decrease in the incidence of visits to baits from low (31.9% baits attracting ants at least once) to high altitudes (16.7%). Foraging ants never visited 51.5% of the baits exposed for periods of 75 min. This indicates that with increasing altitude competition for food among ant colonies becomes less intense in alpine grassland ant communities.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bait visitation by Formica lemani (Hymenoptera: Fomicidae) indicates shortage of carbohydrates in alpine grasslands

Guariento¹,

Martini²,

Fiedler³

2018

Eur. J. Entomol.

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“…Tropical ants exhibit some of the fastest declines in abundance, species richness, and predation activity with elevation recorded in insect taxa, and this pattern is well documented in New Guinea, where ants disappear above 2200 m a.s.l. (Sam et al 2015, Plowman et al 2017, Orivel et al 2018. While ants were relatively common in the forest canopy at our study sites at 1800 m asl, just 400 m below their local elevational limit (Orivel et al 2018), a large proportion of colonies were nesting cryptically underneath epiphytes and There is no statistical difference in the curve slopes among the three stages in both analyses (GeeGLM, interaction effects: P > 0.2), but both measures of ant diversity are higher for primary than secondary forest trees across the tree size gradient (forest stage effects: P < 0.01).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Orivel et al 2018), a large proportion of colonies were nesting cryptically underneath epiphytes and Relationship between tree size (diameter at breast height [dbh]) and ant species richness (a) and ant nesting microhabitat diversity (b) in three montane forest successional stages in New Guinea. Lines represent general linear model (GLM) fitted with Poisson distribution, and gray areas represent the 95% confidence intervals.…”

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confidence: 99%

Secondary succession has surprisingly low impact on arboreal ant communities in tropical montane rainforest

et al. 2019

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Understanding forest regeneration processes is increasingly important as disturbed forests spread rapidly in tropical landscapes. While successional dynamics are relatively well-understood for plants, they remain poorly known for tropical insects, particularly in montane rainforests and tree canopies. We studied the effect of montane forest succession on arboreal ant communities in New Guinea near their natural elevational limit (1800 m a.s.l.). We censused ant species and nests in replicated 0.1-ha plots of primary, old and young secondary forests, destined to be felled for gardens by the local landowners. Overall, 1249 felled trees were dissected for all ant-associated microhabitats. We used rarefaction-based models manipulating vegetation structure and multivariate randomizations to assess the effects of tree density, tree size, and nesting microhabitats on the ant communities. We expected increased ant species diversity, microhabitat specialization, and species turnover among trees throughout the succession, with distinct community composition among the stages. In contrast to our expectations, ant species composition and diversity per plot did not change during succession, and species similarity among trees was significantly higher only in old secondary forest. The number of ant species per tree increased with forest age, but trees of similar size hosted only slightly more species in primary than secondary forests. Many ant species were associated with particular nesting microhabitats; however, the same microhabitat types occurred in all stages and thus did not generate successional trends in ant communities. Secondary succession had an unexpectedly low impact on tree-dwelling ant communities in this montane ecosystem, in contrast with our previous findings from lowland rainforests. These results highlight the need to study successional processes along entire elevational gradients, as montane taxa may react differently to vegetation changes than their lowland counterparts.

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“…Urine was not tested on C. vitreus in Papua New Guinea, but this ant preferred chicken faeces to sugars (Orivel et al . ). In the Central Namib Desert, Camponotus detritus transported bird and lizard faeces and sand hardened by oryx urine to their nests (Curtis and references therein).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The Bornean Camponotus rufifemur foraged on urea baits including urine, as well as uric acid powder and bird droppings (Menzel et al 2012). Urine was not tested on C. vitreus in Papua New Guinea, but this ant preferred chicken faeces to sugars (Orivel et al 2018). In the Central Namib Desert, Camponotus detritus transported bird and lizard faeces and sand hardened by oryx urine to their nests (Curtis 1990 and references therein).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Camponotus ants mine sand for vertebrate urine to extract nitrogen

Petit

Stonor²,

Weyland

et al. 2019

Austral Ecology

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The ability of some ant species (including Camponotus spp.) to forage on vertebrate urine to extract urea may extend their niche in competitive and strongly nitrogen‐limited environments. We examined the preference of Camponotus terebrans, a sand‐dwelling ant widespread in southern Australia, for baits including urine, and the duration of their foraging on those baits. We baited ants with liquid stains of urine (human and kangaroo), urea in water (2.5%. 3.5%, 7.0%, 10.0%) and sucrose in water (20% and 40%) poured directly on the ground, as well as hard baits in plots drawn on sandy soil (Kangaroo Island, South Australia). We counted individuals of this mostly nocturnal species to determine their attraction to different baits for one month. We checked plant growth on the plots after nine and 13 months. Ants collected insects and meat; they foraged for at least 29 days on stains. Ants were most numerous on 10% urea, followed by 7% urea, 3.5% urea, urine (which contains ~2.5% urea) and 2.5% urea, 40% sucrose and 20% sucrose; sucrose was less attractive to them than equimolar urea bait. Ants were attracted to human, kangaroo, and unidentified urines, and they collected bird guano. Baits and ant foraging did not affect plant recruitment in plots. We observed incidentally Camponotus consobrinus foraging on urine, which may be a common resource for this genus at the site. The remarkable ability of C. terebrans to extract nitrogen from dry sand over weeks explains partly its success on sandy soils. Foraging on urine may be an important strategy to address nitrogen limitation on sandy soils and exploit commensally niches in which hosts are kangaroos, wallabies and other vertebrates. The understanding of plant–vertebrate interactions must factor in the role of ants as commensal organisms. Such ants could also reduce greenhouse gas emissions from urine.

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Resource use and food preferences in understory ant communities along a complete elevational gradient in Papua New Guinea

Cited by 18 publications

References 42 publications

Bait visitation by Formica lemani (Hymenoptera: Fomicidae) indicates shortage of carbohydrates in alpine grasslands

Bait visitation by Formica lemani (Hymenoptera: Fomicidae) indicates shortage of carbohydrates in alpine grasslands

Secondary succession has surprisingly low impact on arboreal ant communities in tropical montane rainforest

Camponotus ants mine sand for vertebrate urine to extract nitrogen

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