ORCID Profile
0000-0003-1627-763X
Current Organisation
University of Liverpool
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In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Ecosystem Function | Community Ecology | Terrestrial Ecology | Ecological Impacts of Climate Change | Ecology | Ecological Applications | Conservation and Biodiversity | Ecology not elsewhere classified
Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change | Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales | Effects of Climate Change and Variability on Australia (excl. Social Impacts) | Ecosystem Assessment and Management not elsewhere classified | Climate Change Models |
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-10-2015
DOI: 10.1111/OIK.02742
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 30-06-2010
DOI: 10.1007/S00442-010-1703-4
Abstract: Habitat complexity can mediate key processes that structure local assemblages through effects on factors such as competition, predation and foraging behaviour. While most studies address assemblage responses to habitat complexity within one locality, a more global approach allows conclusions with greater independence from the phylogenetic constraints of the target assemblages, thus allowing greater generality. We tested the effects of natural and manipulated habitat complexities on ant assemblages from South Africa, Australia and Sweden, in order to determine if there were globally consistent responses in how functional measures of foraging success are regulated by habitat complexity. Specifically, we considered how habitat complexity affected ant foraging rates including the speed of discovery and rate of monopolisation. We also tested if habitat complexity affected the body size index, a size-related morphological trait, of ants discovering resources and occupying and monopolising the resources after 180 min. Ants were significantly slower to discover baits in the more complex treatments, consistent with predictions that they would move more slowly through more complex environments. The monopolisation index was also lower in the more complex treatments, suggesting that resources were more difficult to defend. Our index of ant body size showed trends in the predicted direction for complexity treatments. In addition, ants discovering, occupying and monopolising resources were smaller in simple than in complex natural habitats. Responses of discovering ants to resources in natural habitats were clear in only one of three regions. Consistent with our predictions, habitat complexity thus affected functional measures of the foraging success of ants in terms of measures of discovery and monopolisation rates and body size traits of successful ants. However, patterns were not always equally clear in manipulative and mensurative components of the study.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-05-2014
DOI: 10.1111/JVS.12200
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-02-2022
DOI: 10.1111/DDI.13482
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-06-2018
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.14331
Abstract: The relationship between levels of dominance and species richness is highly contentious, especially in ant communities. The dominance-impoverishment rule states that high levels of dominance only occur in species-poor communities, but there appear to be many cases of high levels of dominance in highly erse communities. The extent to which dominant species limit local richness through competitive exclusion remains unclear, but such exclusion appears more apparent for non-native rather than native dominant species. Here we perform the first global analysis of the relationship between behavioral dominance and species richness. We used data from 1,293 local assemblages of ground-dwelling ants distributed across five continents to document the generality of the dominance-impoverishment rule, and to identify the biotic and abiotic conditions under which it does and does not apply. We found that the behavioral dominance- ersity relationship varies greatly, and depends on whether dominant species are native or non-native, whether dominance is considered as occurrence or relative abundance, and on variation in mean annual temperature. There were declines in ersity with increasing dominance in invaded communities, but ersity increased with increasing dominance in native communities. These patterns occur along the global temperature gradient. However, positive and negative relationships are strongest in the hottest sites. We also found that climate regulates the degree of behavioral dominance, but differently from how it shapes species richness. Our findings imply that, despite strong competitive interactions among ants, competitive exclusion is not a major driver of local richness in native ant communities. Although the dominance-impoverishment rule applies to invaded communities, we propose an alternative dominance- ersification rule for native communities.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2010
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-01-2021
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.15488
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-09-2016
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12516
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date: 18-11-2010
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2016
DOI: 10.1890/15-1905.1
Abstract: African savannas are highly seasonal with a erse array of both mammalian and invertebrate herbivores, yet herbivory studies have focused almost exclusively on mammals. We conducted a 2-yr exclosure experiment in South Africa's Kruger National Park to measure the relative impact of these two groups of herbivores on grass removal at both highly productive patches (termite mounds) and in the less productive savanna matrix. Invertebrate and mammalian herbivory was greater on termite mounds, but the relative importance of each group changed over time. Mammalian offtake was higher than invertebrates in the dry season, but can be eclipsed by invertebrates during the wet season when this group is more active. Our results demonstrate that invertebrates play a substantial role in savanna herbivory and should not be disregarded in attempts to understand the impacts of herbivory on ecosystems.
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 11-01-2019
Abstract: In many tropical regions, where drought is predicted to become more frequent in the coming years, termites are key components of ecosystem function. Ashton et al. experimentally manipulated termite communities to quantify their role during the 2015–2016 “super El Niño” drought in a Malaysian tropical rainforest. Termite relative abundance more than doubled in control plots during drought, maintaining three major ecosystem processes: decomposition, nutrient heterogeneity, and moisture retention. Seedling mortality increased where termites were suppressed. Science , this issue p. 174
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2016
DOI: 10.1890/15-1713.1
Abstract: In almost every ecosystem, ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) are the dominant terrestrial invertebrate group. Their functional value was highlighted by Wilson (1987) who famously declared that invertebrates are the "little things that run the world." However, while it is generally accepted that ants fulfil important functions, few studies have tested these assumptions and demonstrated what happens in their absence. We report on a novel large-scale field experiment in undisturbed savanna habitat where we examined how ants influence the abundance of other invertebrate taxa in the system, and affect the key processes of decomposition and herbivory. Our experiment demonstrated that ants suppressed the abundance and activity of beetles, millipedes, and termites, and also influenced decomposition rates and levels of herbivory. Our study is the first to show that top-down control of termites by ants can have important ecosystem consequences. Further studies are needed to elucidate the effects ant communities have on other aspects of the ecosystem (e.g., soils, nutrient cycling, the microbial community) and how their relative importance for ecosystem function varies among ecosystem types (e.g., savanna vs. forest).
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 18-10-2019
Abstract: Bastin
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-12-2019
DOI: 10.1111/BRV.12486
Abstract: Movement is a trait of fundamental importance in ecosystems subject to frequent disturbances, such as fire-prone ecosystems. Despite this, the role of movement in facilitating responses to fire has received little attention. Herein, we consider how animal movement interacts with fire history to shape species distributions. We consider how fire affects movement between habitat patches of differing fire histories that occur across a range of spatial and temporal scales, from daily foraging bouts to infrequent dispersal events, and annual migrations. We review animal movements in response to the immediate and abrupt impacts of fire, and the longer-term successional changes that fires set in train. We discuss how the novel threats of altered fire regimes, landscape fragmentation, and invasive species result in suboptimal movements that drive populations downwards. We then outline the types of data needed to study animal movements in relation to fire and novel threats, to hasten the integration of movement ecology and fire ecology. We conclude by outlining a research agenda for the integration of movement ecology and fire ecology by identifying key research questions that emerge from our synthesis of animal movements in fire-prone ecosystems.
Publisher: Academy of Science of South Africa
Date: 03-2007
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-10-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 08-08-2018
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-08-2011
DOI: 10.1111/J.1365-2656.2011.01899.X
Abstract: 1. Interspecific trade-offs are thought to facilitate coexistence between species at small spatial scales. The discovery-dominance trade-off, analogous to a competition-colonisation trade-off, is considered an important structuring mechanism in ant ecology. A trade-off between species' ability to discover food resources and to dominate them may explain how so many species apparently dependent on similar resources can coexist. 2. The discovery-dominance trade-off is thought to be broken by invasive species in enemy-free space or territorial species whose activity is fuelled by domination of carbohydrate resources. It may also be mediated by factors such as temperature and habitat structure. 3. We investigate the generality and form of the discovery-dominance relationship in an experiment using habitats of contrasting complexity across three continents. In addition, to assess how widespread the discovery-dominance trade-off is, we conducted a systematic review combining all empirical studies (published and from our experiment). 4. From our own fieldwork and meta-analyses of available studies, we find surprisingly little empirical support for the trade-off, with results indicating that mean effect sizes were either not significantly different from 0 or significantly positive. The trade-off was only detected in studies with parasitoids present. Additionally, experimental data from simple and complex habitats within each continent suggest that simple habitats may facilitate both food resource discovery and dominance. 5. We conclude that the discovery-dominance trade-off is the exception, rather than the rule. Instead, these abilities were commonly correlated. Real food resources provide many axes along which partitioning may occur, and discovery-dominance trade-offs are not a prerequisite for coexistence.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2017
DOI: 10.1002/ECY.1682
Abstract: What forces structure ecological assemblages? A key limitation to general insights about assemblage structure is the availability of data that are collected at a small spatial grain (local assemblages) and a large spatial extent (global coverage). Here, we present published and unpublished data from 51 ,388 ant abundance and occurrence records of more than 2,693 species and 7,953 morphospecies from local assemblages collected at 4,212 locations around the world. Ants were selected because they are erse and abundant globally, comprise a large fraction of animal biomass in most terrestrial communities, and are key contributors to a range of ecosystem functions. Data were collected between 1949 and 2014, and include, for each geo-referenced s ling site, both the identity of the ants collected and details of s ling design, habitat type, and degree of disturbance. The aim of compiling this data set was to provide comprehensive species abundance data in order to test relationships between assemblage structure and environmental and biogeographic factors. Data were collected using a variety of standardized methods, such as pitfall and Winkler traps, and will be valuable for studies investigating large-scale forces structuring local assemblages. Understanding such relationships is particularly critical under current rates of global change. We encourage authors holding additional data on systematically collected ant assemblages, especially those in dry and cold, and remote areas, to contact us and contribute their data to this growing data set.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 07-06-2015
Abstract: Many studies have focused on the impacts of climate change on biological assemblages, yet little is known about how climate interacts with other major anthropogenic influences on bio ersity, such as habitat disturbance. Using a unique global database of 1128 local ant assemblages, we examined whether climate mediates the effects of habitat disturbance on assemblage structure at a global scale. Species richness and evenness were associated positively with temperature, and negatively with disturbance. However, the interaction among temperature, precipitation and disturbance shaped species richness and evenness. The effect was manifested through a failure of species richness to increase substantially with temperature in transformed habitats at low precipitation. At low precipitation levels, evenness increased with temperature in undisturbed sites, peaked at medium temperatures in disturbed sites and remained low in transformed sites. In warmer climates with lower rainfall, the effects of increasing disturbance on species richness and evenness were akin to decreases in temperature of up to 9°C. Anthropogenic disturbance and ongoing climate change may interact in complicated ways to shape the structure of assemblages, with hot, arid environments likely to be at greatest risk.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-07-2022
Abstract: Current global challenges call for a rigorously predictive ecology. Our understanding of ecological strategies, imputed through suites of measurable functional traits, comes from decades of work that largely focussed on plants. However, a key question is whether plant ecological strategies resemble those of other organisms. Among animals, ants have long been recognised to possess similarities with plants: as (largely) central place foragers. For ex le, in idual ant workers play similar foraging roles to plant leaves and roots and are similarly expendable. Frameworks that aim to understand plant ecological strategies through key functional traits, such as the ‘leaf economics spectrum’, offer the potential for significant parallels with ant ecological strategies. Here, we explore these parallels across several proposed ecological strategy dimensions, including an ‘economic spectrum’, propagule size‐number trade‐offs, apparency‐defence trade‐offs, resource acquisition trade‐offs and stress‐tolerance trade‐offs. We also highlight where ecological strategies may differ between plants and ants. Furthermore, we consider how these strategies play out among the different modules of eusocial organisms, where selective forces act on the worker and reproductive castes, as well as the colony. Finally, we suggest future directions for ecological strategy research, including highlighting the availability of data and traits that may be more difficult to measure, but should receive more attention in future to better understand the ecological strategies of ants. The unique biology of eusocial organisms provides an unrivalled opportunity to bridge the gap in our understanding of ecological strategies in plants and animals and we hope that this perspective will ignite further interest. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-07-2014
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 05-08-2022
Abstract: Invertebrates constitute the majority of animal species and are critical for ecosystem functioning and services. Nonetheless, global invertebrate bio ersity patterns and their congruences with vertebrates remain largely unknown. We resolve the first high-resolution (~20-km) global ersity map for a major invertebrate clade, ants, using bio ersity informatics, range modeling, and machine learning to synthesize existing knowledge and predict the distribution of undiscovered ersity. We find that ants and different vertebrate groups have distinct features in their patterns of richness and rarity, underscoring the need to consider a ersity of taxa in conservation. However, despite their phylogenetic and physiological ergence, ant distributions are not highly anomalous relative to variation among vertebrate clades. Furthermore, our models predict that rarity centers largely overlap (78%), suggesting that general forces shape endemism patterns across taxa. This raises confidence that conservation of areas important for small-ranged vertebrates will benefit invertebrates while providing a “treasure map” to guide future discovery.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-04-2019
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.14622
Abstract: Predicting and understanding the biological response to future climate change is a pressing challenge for humanity. In the 21st century, many species will move into higher latitudes and higher elevations as the climate warms. In addition, the relative abundances of species within local assemblages are likely to change. Both effects have implications for how ecosystems function. Few bio ersity forecasts, however, take account of both shifting ranges and changing abundances. We provide a novel analysis predicting the potential changes to assemblage-level relative abundances in the 21st century. We use an established relationship linking ant abundance and their colour and size traits to temperature and UV-B to predict future abundance changes. We also predict future temperature driven range shifts and use these to alter the available species pool for our trait-mediated abundance predictions. We do this across three continents under a low greenhouse gas emissions scenario (RCP2.6) and a business-as-usual scenario (RCP8.5). Under RCP2.6, predicted changes to ant assemblages by 2100 are moderate. On average, species richness will increase by 26%, while species composition and relative abundance structure will be 26% and 30% different, respectively, compared with modern assemblages. Under RCP8.5, however, highland assemblages face almost a tripling of species richness and compositional and relative abundance changes of 66% and 77%. Critically, we predict that future assemblages could be reorganized in terms of which species are common and which are rare: future highland assemblages will not simply comprise upslope shifts of modern lowland assemblages. These forecasts reveal the potential for radical change to montane ant assemblages by the end of the 21st century if temperature increases continue. Our results highlight the importance of incorporating trait-environment relationships into future bio ersity predictions. Looking forward, the major challenge is to understand how ecosystem processes will respond to compositional and relative abundance changes.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-05-2022
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.13499
Abstract: ‘Megafire’ is an emerging concept commonly used to describe fires that are extreme in terms of size, behaviour, and/or impacts, but the term’s meaning remains ambiguous. We sought to resolve ambiguity surrounding the meaning of ‘megafire’ by conducting a structured review of the use and definition of the term in several languages in the peer‐reviewed scientific literature. We collated definitions and descriptions of megafire and identified criteria frequently invoked to define megafire. We recorded the size and location of megafires and mapped them to reveal global variation in the size of fires described as megafires. We identified 109 studies that define the term ‘megafire’ or identify a megafire, with the term first appearing in the peer‐reviewed literature in 2005. Seventy‐one (~65%) of these studies attempted to describe or define the term. There was considerable variability in the criteria used to define megafire, although definitions of megafire based on fire size were most common. Megafire size thresholds varied geographically from 100–100,000 ha, with fires 10,000 ha the most common size threshold (41%, 18/44 studies). Definitions of megafire were most common from studies led by authors from North America (52%, 37/71). We recorded 137 instances from 84 studies where fires were reported as megafires, the vast majority (94%, 129/137) of which exceed 10,000 ha in size. Megafires occurred in a range of biomes, but were most frequently described in forested biomes (112/137, 82%), and usually described single ignition fires (59% 81/137). As Earth’s climate and ecosystems change, it is important that scientists can communicate trends in the occurrence of larger and more extreme fires with clarity. To overcome ambiguity, we suggest a definition of megafire as fires 10,000 ha arising from single or multiple related ignition events. We introduce two additional terms – gigafire ( 100,000 ha) and terafire ( 1,000,000 ha) – for fires of an even larger scale than megafires.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date: 18-11-2009
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 28-09-2022
Abstract: Deadwood is a large global carbon store with its store size partially determined by biotic decay. Microbial wood decay rates are known to respond to changing temperature and precipitation. Termites are also important decomposers in the tropics but are less well studied. An understanding of their climate sensitivities is needed to estimate climate change effects on wood carbon pools. Using data from 133 sites spanning six continents, we found that termite wood discovery and consumption were highly sensitive to temperature (with decay increasing .8 times per 10°C increase in temperature)—even more so than microbes. Termite decay effects were greatest in tropical seasonal forests, tropical savannas, and subtropical deserts. With tropicalization (i.e., warming shifts to tropical climates), termite wood decay will likely increase as termites access more of Earth’s surface.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-11-2017
DOI: 10.1111/ECOG.03244
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 17-05-2013
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.CUB.2019.01.012
Abstract: Termite-mediated decomposition is an important, but often overlooked, component of the carbon cycle. Using a large-scale suppression experiment in Borneo, Griffiths et al. found that termites contribute between 58 and 64% of mass loss from dead wood.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-2018
DOI: 10.1038/S41586-018-0301-1
Abstract: The tropics contain the overwhelming majority of Earth's bio ersity: their terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems hold more than three-quarters of all species, including almost all shallow-water corals and over 90% of terrestrial birds. However, tropical ecosystems are also subject to pervasive and interacting stressors, such as deforestation, overfishing and climate change, and they are set within a socio-economic context that includes growing pressure from an increasingly globalized world, larger and more affluent tropical populations, and weak governance and response capacities. Concerted local, national and international actions are urgently required to prevent a collapse of tropical bio ersity.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-01-2019
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2020
DOI: 10.1111/BTP.12762
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-12-2016
DOI: 10.1111/ICAD.12211
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 20-11-2020
Abstract: Fire has played a prominent role in the evolution of bio ersity and is a natural factor shaping many ecological communities. However, the incidence of fire has been exacerbated by human activity, and this is now affecting ecosystems and habitats that have never been fire prone or fire adapted. Kelly et al. review how such changes are already threatening species with extinction and transforming terrestrial ecosystems and discuss the trends causing changes in fire regimes. They also consider actions that could be taken by conservationists and policy-makers to help sustain bio ersity in a time of changing fire activity. Science , this issue p. eabb0355
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-03-2014
DOI: 10.1111/ECOG.00532
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date: 18-11-2010
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-04-2012
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-07-2021
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.17553
Abstract: Soil invertebrates make significant contributions to the recycling of dead plant material across the globe. However, studies focussed on the consequences of decomposition for plant communities largely ignore soil fauna across all ecosystems, because microbes are often considered the primary agents of decay. Here, we explore the role of invertebrates as not simply facilitators of microbial decomposition, but as true decomposers, able to break down dead organic matter with their own endogenic enzymes, with direct and indirect impacts on the soil environment and plants. We recommend a holistic view of decomposition, highlighting how invertebrates and microbes act in synergy to degrade organic matter, providing ecological services that underpin plant growth and survival.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Start Date: 01-2012
End Date: 01-2017
Amount: $250,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2022
End Date: 12-2024
Amount: $544,087.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity