Dominance in a ground‐dwelling ant community of banana agroecosystem
نویسندگان
چکیده
In tropical ecosystems, ants represent a substantial portion of the animal biomass and contribute to various ecosystem services, including pest regulation and pollination. Dominant ant species are known to determine the structure of ant communities by interfering in the foraging of other ant species. Using bait and pitfall trapping experiments, we performed a pattern analysis at a fine spatial scale of an ant community in a very simplified and homogeneous agroecosystem, that is, a single-crop banana field in Martinique (French West Indies). We found that the community structure was driven by three dominant species (Solenopsis geminata, Nylanderia guatemalensis, and Monomorium ebeninum) and two subdominant species (Pheidole fallax and Brachymyrmex patagonicus). Our results showed that dominant and subdominant species generally maintained numerical dominance at baits across time, although S. geminata, M. ebeninum, and B. patagonicus displayed better abilities to maintain dominance than P. fallax and N. guatemalensis. Almost all interspecific correlations between species abundances, except those between B. patagonicus and N. guatemalensis, were symmetrically negative, suggesting that interference competition prevails in this ground-dwelling ant community. However, we observed variations in the diurnal and nocturnal foraging activity and in the daily occurrence at baits, which may mitigate the effect of interference competition through the induction of spatial and temporal niche partitioning. This may explain the coexistence of dominant, subdominant, and subordinate species in this very simplified agroecosystem, limited in habitat structure and diversity.
منابع مشابه
Dataset on the regulation of banana weevil abundance and corm damage associated with plant richness and the ground-dwelling arthropods’ food web
The data presented in this article are related to the research article entitled "Plant richness enhances banana weevil regulation in a tropical agroecosystem by affecting a multitrophic food web " [1]. It provides information about plant species richness, weevil corm damage and the abundance of different arthropod groups, including the banana weevil and its potential natural enemies and alterna...
متن کاملVegetation structure of plantain-based agrosystems determines numerical dominance in community of ground-dwelling ants
In tropics, ants can represent an important part of animal biomass and are known to be involved in ecosystem services, such as pest regulation. Understanding the mechanisms underlying the structuring of local ant communities is therefore important in agroecology. In the humid tropics of Africa, plantains are cropped in association with many other annual and perennial crops. Such agrosystems dif...
متن کاملVegetation structure of plantain - based agrosystems determines numerical 1 dominance in community of ground - dwelling ants 2 3 4
23 In tropics, ants can represent an important part of animal biomass and are known to be 24 involved in ecosystem services, such as pest regulation. Understanding the mechanisms 25 underlying the structuring of local ant communities is therefore important in agroecology. In 26 the humid tropics of Africa, plantains are cropped in association with many other annual and 27 perennial crops. Such ...
متن کاملVegetation structure of plantain-based agrosystems determines numerical dominance in community of ground-dwelling ants (#17973)
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Many factors drive the organization of communities including environmental factors, dispersal abilities, and competition. In particular, ant communities have high levels of interspecific competition and dominance that may affect community assembly processes. We used a combination of surveys and nest supplementation experiments to examine effects of a dominant ground-nesting ant (Pheidole synant...
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