Habitats shape taxonomic and functional composition of Neotropical ant assemblages
2019
Fichaux, Mélanie | Béchade, Benoît | Donald, Julian | Weyna, Arthur | Delabie, Jacques Hubert Charles | Murienne, Jerome | Baraloto, Christopher | Orivel, Jérôme | Ecologie des forêts de Guyane (UMR ECOFOG) ; Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-AgroParisTech-Université de Guyane (UG)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université des Antilles (UA) | UPA Laboratorio de Mirmecologia, Convênio UESC/CEPLAC | Evolution et Diversité Biologique (EDB) ; Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3) ; Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Investissement d'Avenir grant of the Agence Nationale de la Recherche [CEBA: ANR-10-LABX-25-01]; DIADEMA project (Dissecting Amazonian Diversity by Enhancing a Multiple taxonomic-groups approach); Programme Convergence 2007-2013, Region Guyane from the European community (BREGA) [757/2014/SGAR/DE/BSF]; PO-FEDER 2014-2020 Region Guyane (BING) [GY0007194]; CNPq
International audience
Show more [+] Less [-]English. Determining assembly rules of co-occurring species persists as a fundamental goal in community ecology. At local scales, the relative importance of environmental filtering vs. competitive exclusion remains a subject of debate. In this study, we assessed the relative importance of habitat filtering and competition in structuring understory ant communities in tropical forests of French Guiana. Leaf-litter ants were collected using pitfall and Winkler traps across swamp, slope and plateau forests near Saul, French Guiana. We used a combination of univariate and multivariate analyses to evaluate trait response of ants to habitat characteristics. Null model analyses were used to investigate the effects of habitat filtering and competitive interactions on community assembly at the scale of assemblages and sampling points, respectively. Swamp forests presented a much lower taxonomic and functional richness compared to slope and plateau forests. Furthermore, marked differences in taxonomic and functional composition were observed between swamp forests and slope or plateau forests. We found weak evidence for competitive exclusion based on null models. Nevertheless, the contrasting trait composition observed between habitats revealed differences in the ecological attributes of the species in the different forest habitats. Our analyses suggest that competitive interactions may not play an important role in structuring leaf-litter ant assemblages locally. Rather, habitats are responsible for driving both taxonomic and functional composition of ant communities.
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