Neither ant dominance nor abundance explain ant-plant network structure in Mexican temperate forests

PeerJ

article

Brenda Juárez-Juárez¹  Mariana Cuautle²  Citlalli Castillo-Guevara³  Karla López-Vázquez¹  María Gómez-Ortigoza²  María Gómez-Lazaga²  Cecilia Díaz-Castelazo⁴  Carlos Lara¹  Gibrán R. Pérez-Toledo⁵  Miguel Reyes⁶ 

[1] Maestría en Biotecnología y Manejo de Recursos Naturales, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala;Departamento de Ciencias Químico Biológicas, Universidad de las Américas Puebla;Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala;Red de Interacciones Multitróficas, Instituto de Ecología A.C.;Red de Ecología Funcional, Instituto de Ecología;Departamento de Actuaría, Física y Matemáticas, Universidad de las Américas Puebla

关键词: Nestedness;    Camponotus rubrithorax;    Formica spp.;    Prenolepis imparis;    Oak forest;    Grassland;    Ant hierarchy dominance;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.10435

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAnt-plant mutualistic networks tend to have a nested structure that contributes to their stability, but the ecological factors that give rise to this structure are not fully understood. Here, we evaluate whether ant abundance and dominance hierarchy determine the structure of the ant-plant networks in two types of vegetation: oak and grassland, in two temperate environments of Mexico: Flor del Bosque State Park (FBSP) and La Malinche National Park (MNP). We predicted that dominant and abundant ant species make up the core, and submissives, the periphery of the network. We also expected a higher specialization level in the ant trophic level than in plant trophic level due to competition among the ant species for the plant-derived resources.MethodsThe ant-plant interaction network was obtained from the frequency of ant-plant interactions. We calculated a dominance hierarchy index for the ants using sampling with baits and evaluated their abundance using pitfall traps.ResultsIn MNP, the Formica spp. species complex formed the core of the network (in both the oak forest and the grassland), while in FBSP, the core species were Prenolepis imparis (oak forest) and Camponotus rubrithorax (grassland). Although these core species were dominant in their respective sites, they were not necessarily the most dominant ant species. Three of the four networks (oak forest and grassland in FBSP, and oak forest in MNP) were nested and had a higher number of plant species than ant species. Although greater specialization was observed in the ant trophic level in the two sites and vegetations, possibly due to competition with the more dominant ant species, this was not statistically significant. In three of these networks (grassland and oak forest of MNP and oak forest of FBSP), we found no correlation between the dominance hierarchy and abundance of the ant species and their position within the network. However, a positive correlation was found between the nestedness contribution value and ant dominance hierarchy in the grassland of the site FBSP, which could be due to the richer ant-plant network and higher dominance index of this community.ConclusionsOur evidence suggests that ant abundance and dominance hierarchy have little influence on network structure in temperate ecosystems, probably due to the species-poor ant-plant network and a dominance hierarchy formed only by the presence of dominant and submissive species with no intermediate dominant species between them (absence of gradient in hierarchy) in these ecosystems.

【 授权许可】

CC BY