ORCID Profile
0000-0001-7194-0620
Current Organisation
La Trobe University
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Research Topics
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.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Ecosystem Function | Community Ecology | Ecology | Conservation and Biodiversity | Terrestrial Ecology | Ecological Impacts of Climate Change | Other Biological Sciences | Ecological Applications | Global Change Biology | Applied Statistics | Terrestrial Ecology | Ecology not elsewhere classified |
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales | Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change | Climate change | Effects of Climate Change and Variability on Australia (excl. Social Impacts) | Ecosystem Assessment and Management not elsewhere classified | Ecosystem Assessment and Management at Regional or Larger Scales | Climate Change Models | Rehabilitation of Degraded Environments not elsewhere classified | Other environmental aspects | Global climate change adaptation measures
Related Links
Publications
Dominant meat ants affect only their specialist predator in an epigaeic arthropod community
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-2003
DOI: 10.1007/S00442-003-1299-Z
Abstract: Ants are thought to exert an important influence on the structure of arthropod assemblages through predation and competition. I examined the effect of a dominant ant, Iridomyrmex purpureus, on epigaeic arthropod assemblages on rock outcrops using an exclusion experiment. I compared arthropod assemblages on four replicate outcrops allocated to each of the following treatments: I. purpureus present I. purpureus absent I. purpureus excluded and procedural control. Nests of I. purpureus were caged in summer 2001 and epigaeic arthropod assemblages were s led at all sites using pitfall traps in autumn and spring 2001 and summer 2002. I also collected items from foraging workers to determine the diet of I. purpureus. Exclusion cages successfully reduced the abundance of I. purpureus workers in pitfall traps by more than 97%. Exclusion of I. purpureus did not affect the size distribution, biomass or abundance of arthropod predators or non-predatory arthropods, although the total biomass of ants was greater at sites with I. purpureus. Spider biomass, species richness, abundance and composition were also not affected by the presence of I. purpureus, although the I. purpureus mimic and specialist predator, Habronestes bradleyi, became less abundant at sites from which I. purpureus was excluded. Predation by I. purpureus on other arthropods may not have a significant effect on epigaeic arthropod communities, but the complex role of I. purpureus in this ecosystem and the high ersity of species belonging to multiple trophic levels may obscure its effects in this system.
How does habitat complexity affect ant foraging success? A test using functional measures on three continents
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.
A global database and state of the field review of research into ecosystem engineering by land animals.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-03-2018
Abstract: Ecosystem engineers have been widely studied for terrestrial systems, but global trends in research encompassing the range of taxa and functions have not previously been synthesised. We reviewed contemporary understanding of engineer fauna in terrestrial habitats and assessed the methods used to document patterns and processes, asking: (a) which species act as ecosystem engineers and with whom do they interact? (b) What are the impacts of ecosystem engineers in terrestrial habitats and how are they distributed? (c) What are the primary methods used to examine engineer effects and how have these developed over time? We considered the strengths, weaknesses and gaps in knowledge related to each of these questions and suggested a conceptual framework to delineate "significant impacts" of engineering interactions for all terrestrial animals. We collected peer-reviewed publications examining ecosystem engineer impacts and created a database of engineer species to assess experimental approaches and any additional covariates that influenced the magnitude of engineer impacts. One hundred and twenty-two species from 28 orders were identified as ecosystem engineers, performing five ecological functions. Burrowing mammals were the most researched group (27%). Half of all studies occurred in dry/arid habitats. Mensurative studies comparing sites with and without engineers (80%) were more common than manipulative studies (20%). These provided a broad framework for predicting engineer impacts upon abundance and species ersity. However, the roles of confounding factors, processes driving these patterns and the consequences of experimentally adjusting variables, such as engineer density, have been neglected. True spatial and temporal replication has also been limited, particularly for emerging studies of engineer reintroductions. Climate change and habitat modification will challenge the roles that engineers play in regulating ecosystems, and these will become important avenues for future research. We recommend future studies include simulation of engineer effects and experimental manipulation of engineer densities to determine the potential for ecological cascades through trophic and engineering pathways due to functional decline. We also recommend improving knowledge of long-term engineering effects and replication of engineer reintroductions across landscapes to better understand how large-scale ecological gradients alter the magnitude of engineering impacts.
Effects of planting method on the recovery of arboreal ant activity on revegetated farmland
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-01-2012
Biodiversity benefits for saproxylic beetles with uneven-aged silviculture
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2017
Forest management strategy affects saproxylic beetle assemblages: A comparison of even and uneven-aged silviculture using direct and indirect sampling
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 10-04-2018
Dispersal-limited detritivores in fire-prone environments: persistence and population structure of terrestrial amphipods (Talitridae)
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 20-06-2016
DOI: 10.1071/WF15005
Abstract: Invertebrate detritivores play a critical role in the decomposition of litter, an important component of wildfire fuel. Knowledge of invertebrate response to fire is often h ered by taxonomic resolution however, genetic species identification can enable analysis of fine-scale assemblages and the interaction between dispersal and population recovery. In this study, we ask: do terrestrial hipod assemblages differ following increasing fire severities and does population structure indicate in situ survival or recolonisation following severe fires? Using seven replicate sites over three fire severities, we measured hipod abundance at the site of the catastrophic 2009 ‘Black Saturday’ fires in south-east Australia. Genetic analyses to distinguish species and population structure revealed 16 species. Populations of Arcitalitrus sylvaticus were highly structured, suggesting limited dispersal. Amphipod abundance and species richness were not affected by fire severity 3 years after fire. Localised population structure within A. sylvaticus suggests that in situ survival enabled hipods to repopulate severely burnt sites. The genetic analyses used in this study enabled the detection of unrecognised ersity and population structure in these detritivores. With many detritivores showing similar life history strategies, studies that combine a genetic and ecological approach are essential for understanding the impact of fire on litter decomposition.
The effect of a dominant ant, Iridomyrmex purpureus, on resource use by ant assemblages depends on microhabitat and resource type
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 23-11-2005
REVIEW: Refuges for fauna in fire-prone landscapes: their ecological function and importance
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-08-2013
Numbat nirvana: Conservation ecology of the endangered numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) (Marsupialia:Myrmecobiidae) reintroduced to Scotia and Yookamurra Sanctuaries, Australia
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2015
DOI: 10.1071/ZO15028
Abstract: Despite a vigorous reintroduction program between 1985 and 2010, numbat populations in Western Australia are either static or declining. This study aimed to document the population ecology of numbats at two sites that are going against this trend: Scotia Sanctuary in far western New South Wales and Yookamurra Sanctuary in the riverland of South Australia. Scotia (64 659 ha) and Yookamurra (5026 ha) are conservation reserves owned and managed by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and where numbats were reintroduced in 1999 and 1993 respectively. Both sites have large conservation-fence-protected introduced-species-free areas where there are no cats (Felis catus) or red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). Numbats were sourced from both wild and captive populations. From small founder populations, the Scotia numbats are now estimated to number 169 (113–225) with 44 at Yookamurra. Radio-collared in iduals at Scotia were active between 13 and 31°C. Females had home ranges of 28.3 ± 6.8 ha and males 96.6 ± 18.2 ha, which leads to an estimated sustainable population or carrying capacity of 413–502 at Scotia. Captive-bred animals from Perth Zoo had a high mortality rate upon reintroduction at Scotia due to predation by raptors and starvation. The habitat preferences for mallee with a shrub understorey appear to be driven by availability of termites, and other reintroduced ecosystem engineers appear to have been facilitators by creating new refuge burrows for numbats. This study shows that numbats can be successfully reintroduced into areas of their former range if protected from introduced predators, and illustrates the difficulties in monitoring such cryptic species.
Soil surface complexity has a larger effect on food exploitation by ants than a change from grassland to shrubland
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-02-2018
DOI: 10.1111/EEN.12510
Ecological restoration using litter transplants increases decomposition rates and alters detritivore communities
Publisher: Authorea, Inc.
Date: 24-03-2023
DOI: 10.22541/AU.167965040.02034776/V1
Abstract: Habitat degradation and the associated reductions in ecosystem function can be reversed by reintroducing or ‘rewilding’ keystone species. Rewilding projects have historically targeted restoration of processes such as grazing regimes or top-down predation effects. Few projects have focussed on restoring decomposition efficiency, despite the pivotal role decomposition plays in global carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling. Here, we tested whether rewilding entire communities of detritivorous invertebrates and microbes can improve litter decomposition efficiency and restore detritivore communities during ecological restoration. Rewilding was conducted by transplanting leaf litter and soil, including associated invertebrate and microbial communities from species-rich remnant sites into species-poor, and geographically isolated, revegetated farmland sites. We s led pre- and post-rewilding communities, comparing remnant, rewilded revegetation, and control revegetation sites for litter decomposition and the abundance and ersity of detritivorous invertebrates and microbes. We also quantified the effect of detritivores on the rate of litter decomposition using piecewise Structural Equation Modelling. Decomposition was significantly faster in rewilding sites than both control and remnant areas and was largely driven by a greater abundance of invertebrate detritivores. Similarly, the abundance of invertebrate detritivores in rewilding revegetation sites exceeded the level of remnant communities, whereas there was little difference between control and remnant sites. In contrast, saprotrophic fungi contributed little to decomposition. Areas selected for agriculture were likely more productive than remnant sites, suggesting that restoration sites have the capacity for higher decomposition rates and more abundant detritivore communities than target remnant sites. Importantly, our findings suggest that the novel and relatively simple act of transplanting leaf litter can increase functional efficiency during restoration and alter community composition. Our methods may prove important across a range of contexts where other restoration methods have failed to restore ecosystem processes to pre-degradation levels.
Fast forward selection for generalized estimating equations with a large number of predictor variables
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-12-2013
DOI: 10.1111/BIOM.12118
Abstract: We propose a new variable selection criterion designed for use with forward selection algorithms the score information criterion (SIC). The proposed criterion is based on score statistics which incorporate correlated response data. The main advantage of the SIC is that it is much faster to compute than existing model selection criteria when the number of predictor variables added to a model is large, this is because SIC can be computed for all candidate models without actually fitting them. A second advantage is that it incorporates the correlation between variables into its quasi-likelihood, leading to more desirable properties than competing selection criteria. Consistency and prediction properties are shown for the SIC. We conduct simulation studies to evaluate the selection and prediction performances, and compare these, as well as computational times, with some well-known variable selection criteria. We apply the SIC on a real data set collected on arthropods by considering variable selection on a large number of interactions terms consisting of species traits and environmental covariates.
Effects of management on coarse woody debris volume and composition in boreal forests in northern Sweden
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 05-2005
Soil humidity, potential solar radiation and altitude affect boreal beetle assemblages in dead wood
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2017
Uneven-aged silviculture can reduce negative effects of forest management on beetles
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2017
Parasitoids (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonoidea) of Saproxylic beetles are affected by forest successional stage and dead wood characteristics in boreal spruce forest
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2005
Experimental evidence for mediation of competition by habitat succession
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-2011
DOI: 10.1890/10-2363.1
Abstract: Habitat succession is thought to influence the importance of competition in assemblages. Competitive interactions are considered of critical importance in structuring ant assemblages, but field experiments show varied effects. I tested how succession in managed boreal forests affects the outcome of competition from dominant red wood ants, Formica aquilonia, through a removal experiment in replicated stands of three different ages (0-4, 30-40, and 80-100 years old). F. aquilonia abundance was reduced by 87%, and procedural controls showed no nontarget effects. The succession gradient revealed the full range of possible responses from ant species: decreases in 1-4-year-old stands, increases in 30-40-year-old stands, and no effects in 80-100-year-old stands, where ersity was lowest. Habitat succession thus regulates competitive interactions in this system. I propose a model for this system, where competitive effects depend on time since disturbance. In this case, soon after disturbance the dominant species facilitates increases in the abundance of other species. At intermediate times, competition reduces the abundance of some species. Finally, in long-undisturbed habitats, competitors may fail to evolve, particularly in high-stress environments. Interactions between competition and habitat succession may explain why structuring effects of ecologically dominant species appear inconsistent.
Wing loading and habitat selection in forest beetles: Are red-listed species poorer dispersers or more habitat-specific than common congenerics?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2006
Foraging loads of red wood ants:Formica aquilonia(Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in relation to tree characteristics and stand age
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 18-05-2016
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.2049
Abstract: Background. Foraging efficiency is critical in determining the success of organisms and may be affected by a range of factors, including resource distance and quality. For social insects such as ants, outcomes must be considered at the level of both the in idual and the colony. It is important to understand whether anthropogenic disturbances, such as forestry, affect foraging loads, independent of effects on the quality and distribution of resources. We asked if ants harvest greater loads from more distant and higher quality resources, how in idual efforts scale to the colony level, and whether worker loads are affected by stand age. Methods. First, we performed a fine-scale study examining the effect of distance and resource quality (tree diameter and species) on harvesting of honeydew by red wood ants, Formica aquilonia , in terms of crop load per worker ant and numbers of workers walking up and down each tree (ant activity) (study 1). Second, we modelled what the combination of load and worker number responses meant for colony-level foraging loads. Third, at a larger scale, we asked whether the relationship between worker load and resource quality and distance depended on stand age (study 2). Results. Study 1 revealed that seventy percent of ants descending trees carried honeydew, and the percentage of workers that were honeydew harvesters was not related to tree species or diameter, but increased weakly with distance. Distance positively affected load mass in both studies 1 and 2, while diameter had weak negative effects on load. Relationships between load and distance and diameter did not differ among stands of different ages. Our model showed that colony-level loads declined much more rapidly with distance for small diameter than large diameter trees. Discussion. We suggest that a negative relationship between diameter and honeydew load detected in study 1 might be a result of crowding on large diameter trees close to nests, while the increase in honeydew load with distance may result from resource depletion close to nests. At the colony level, our model suggests that very little honeydew was harvested from more distant trees if they were small, but that more distant larger trees continued to contribute substantially to colony harvest. Although forestry alters the activity and foraging success of red wood ants, study 2 showed that it does not alter the fundamental rules determining the allocation of foraging effort.
REMOVAL EXPERIMENT REVEALS LIMITED EFFECTS OF A BEHAVIORALLY DOMINANT SPECIES ON ANT ASSEMBLAGES
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2004
DOI: 10.1890/03-0007
Whole‐of‐community invertebrate rewilding: Leaf litter transplants rapidly increase beetle diversity during restoration
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-12-2022
DOI: 10.1002/EAP.2779
Abstract: Restoration of degraded areas is now a central tool in humanity's response to continued species‐loss. However, restoration projects often report exceedingly slow or failed recolonization of fauna, especially dispersal‐constrained groups such as invertebrates. Active interventions via reintroducing or “rewilding” invertebrates may assist recolonization and speed up restoration of communities toward a desired target. However, invertebrate rewilding is rarely implemented during ecological restoration. Here, we studied the efficacy of invertebrate rewilding as a means of reintroducing dispersal‐constrained species and improving ersity and compositional similarities to remnant communities during restoration. Rewilding was conducted by transplanting leaf litter and soil, including associated communities of invertebrates from species rich remnant sites into species poor, and geographically isolated, revegetated farmland sites. We s led pre‐ and post‐rewilding invertebrate communities in remnant, rewilded revegetation, and control revegetation sites. We analyzed morphospecies richness, abundance, community composition, and modeled morphospecies traits (dispersal method/trophic guild) using a Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities approach to determine which biological properties facilitated establishment. Beetle (Coleoptera) morphospecies richness increased rapidly in rewilded sites and was indistinguishable from remnant communities as early as 7 months post‐rewilding. Beetle community similarity in the rewilding sites significantly deviated from the control sites 27 months post‐rewilding, however remnant communities remained distinct over the study timeframe. Establishment success varied as other taxa did not respond as consistently as beetles within the study timeframe. Furthermore, there were no discernible shifts in dispersal traits in rewilded sites. However, predatory morphospecies were more likely to establish post‐rewilding than other trophic groups. Our results demonstrate that the relatively simple act of transplanting leaf litter can result in comparatively large increases in morphospecies richness during restoration in a short timeframe. We advocate methodologies such as ours should be adopted more frequently to address failed community restoration as they are cost‐effective and can be easily applied by practitioners in various restoration settings. However, further efficacy tests (e.g., varying the number of rewilding events) and longer study timeframes are needed to ensure effectiveness for a broader range of invertebrate taxa and ecosystems.
Ecological strategies of (pl)ants: Towards a world‐wide worker economic spectrum for ants
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.
Arthropod colonisation of natural and experimental logs in an agricultural landscape: Effects of habitat, isolation, season and exposure time
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-2012
The global distribution of known and undiscovered ant biodiversity
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.
Thermoregulatory traits combine with range shifts to alter the future of montane ant assemblages
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.
Colonisation by a dominant ant facilitated by anthropogenic disturbance: effects on ant assemblage composition, biomass and resource use
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-10-2003
Does the availability of arboreal honeydew determine the prevalence of ecologically dominant ants in restored habitats?
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-08-2009
Experimental reduction of native vertebrate grazing and addition of logs benefit beetle diversity at multiple scales
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-04-2011
Introduction to the Insect Ecology Special Issue
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-01-2022
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.13140
Digging mammal reintroductions reduce termite biomass and alter assemblage composition along an aridity gradient
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-10-2019
DOI: 10.1007/S00442-019-04517-7
Abstract: Invasions can trigger cascades in ecological communities by altering species interactions. Following the introduction of cats and foxes into Australia, one tenth of Australia's terrestrial mammal species became extinct, due to predation, while many continue to decline. The broader consequences for Australian ecosystems are poorly understood. Soil-dwelling invertebrates are likely to be affected by the loss of fossorial native mammals, which are predators and disturbance agents. Using reintroductions as a model for ecosystems prior to species loss, we tested the hypothesis that mammal reintroduction leads to reduced vegetation cover and altered termite assemblages, including declines in abundance and biomass and changed species composition. We hypothesised that the magnitude of mammal reintroduction effects would diminish with increasing aridity, which affects resource availability. We compared six paired sites inside and outside three reintroduction sanctuaries across an aridity gradient. We s led termite assemblages using soil trenches and measured habitat availability. Reintroductions were associated with increased bare ground and reduced vegetation, compared with controls. Aridity also had an underlying influence on vegetation cover by limiting water availability. Termite abundance and biomass were lower where mammals were reintroduced and the magnitude of this effect decreased with increasing aridity. Termite abundance was highest under wood, and soil-nesting wood-feeders were most affected inside sanctuaries. Ecological cascades resulting from exotic predator invasions are thus likely to have increased termite biomass and altered termite assemblages, but impacts may be lower in less-productive habitats. Our findings have implications for reserve carrying capacities and understanding of assemblage reconstruction following ecological cascades.
Structure of ant assemblages in Western Ghats, India: Role of habitat, disturbance and introduced species
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-09-2011
Competition and the Role of Dominant Ants
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date: 18-11-2009
Rainforest litter invertebrates decimated by high severity burns during Australia's gigafires
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-06-2023
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.13375
Abstract: Climate change is increasing the frequency of extreme fires. In 2019–2020, extreme fires burned 97 000 km 2 of native vegetation in south‐eastern Australia, affecting many areas of rainforest, which has historically burned less frequently. One year post‐fires, we surveyed litter macroinvertebrates in 52 temperate rainforest sites. Sites had experienced increasing levels of fire severity (unburnt, medium severity and high severity). We asked how fire severity affected: (1) litter macroinvertebrate habitats (2) the abundance of litter macroinvertebrate taxa per unit area and (3) abundance relative to litter habitat (volumetric density). We also estimated the loss of litter macroinvertebrates across rainforests in the study region. High severity burns supported only a fifth of the litter volume and canopy cover as unburnt sites, lower soil moisture and higher herb cover. Medium burns were intermediate. Macroinvertebrate abundance declined with burn severity: high severity burns supported only 26% of the abundance in unburnt sites medium severity burns supported 80% of that in unburnt sites. Patterns were similar for all taxa, with millipedes declining most. High severity fires resulted in up to 1.90 million fewer macroinvertebrates per hectare 0.53 million fewer per hectare of medium burn rainforest. Across the study region, we estimate that 60 billion fewer litter macroinvertebrates persisted in temperate rainforests alone. Volumetric densities of many litter macroinvertebrate taxa in high severity burns were marginally higher than in unburnt sites, suggesting nutrients may be more available post‐fire, or that persisting in iduals become concentrated in the leaf litter. For less desiccation‐tolerant groups (e.g., hipods), density declines with increasing severity may reflect the combined impact of low soil moisture and reduced litter cover. Many taxa persisted following high severity fires, but declines were substantial, and taxa differed in their vulnerability. Longer‐term monitoring is required to understand the recovery trajectory and impacts on ecological function.
Does Structural Complexity Determine the Morphology of Assemblages? An Experimental Test on Three Continents
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 17-05-2013
The Effects of Fire Severity on Macroinvertebrate Detritivores and Leaf Litter Decomposition
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 16-04-2015
Field tests of interspecific competition in ant assemblages: revisiting the dominant red wood ants
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-01-2011
DOI: 10.1111/J.1365-2656.2010.01794.X
Abstract: 1. There has been considerable debate on the importance of competition in ecological communities, but its importance in structuring ant assemblages has often been uncritically accepted. Here, we briefly review field experiments examining competition in ant assemblages and use a removal experiment to test the effect of the classical territorial dominant ant, Formica aquilonia. Ants of this species group are thought to structure communities through a dominance hierarchy. 2. First, we used pitfall traps to compare the abundance of other ants in replicated sites with low and high densities of F. aquilonia. We found differences in community composition, in particular, C onotus herculeanus was more common in low-density sites, in accordance with predictions. Differences in ant assemblages were not owing to differences in measured habitat variables. 3. We removed F. aquilonia from a set of high-density sites, using physical and chemical methods, and repeated these procedures at procedural control sites. One year after removal, abundances of F. aquilonia at removal sites were similar to those at low-density sites. However, the composition of other species did not change in response to F. aquilonia removal. Replication rates were identical in the mensurative and experimental components of this study, so this is unlikely to be owing to the analysis being insufficiently powerful. 4. We suggest three possibilities for the lack of difference. First, the study may have been too short term or small scale to detect differences. However, previous studies have shown effects on smaller spatial- and temporal-scales. Second, priority effects may be important in the successful colonisation by F. aquilonia. Thirdly, boreal ant assemblages may be too depauperate for redundancy in ecological roles and for competition to play an important structuring role. 5. We thus recommend that long-term large-scale experiments be considered essential if we are to distinguish between competing hypotheses in community ecology.
Testing top-down and bottom-up effects on arid zone beetle assemblages following mammal reintroduction
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-12-2018
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.12564
Effects of low severity burning after clear-cutting on mid-boreal ant communities in the two years after fire
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-11-2006
Post‐fire recovery of litter detritivores is limited by distance from burn edge
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-06-2016
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.12404
Morphological traits as predictors of diet and microhabitat use in a diverse beetle assemblage
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 17-01-2011
Revegetation of farmland restores function and composition of epigaeic beetle assemblages
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2010
Morphological traits: Predictable responses to macrohabitats across a 300 km scale
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 04-03-2014
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.271
Effects of reconstruction of a pre-European vertebrate assemblage on ground-dwelling arachnids in arid Australia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-01-2015
DOI: 10.1007/S00442-014-3189-Y
Abstract: Species loss can result in changes in assemblage structure and ecosystem function through ecological cascades. Australian vertebrate assemblages changed significantly following European colonisation, which resulted in the establishment of invasive vertebrates and the loss of native marsupials, many of which consume invertebrates. Conservation focusses on the removal of invasive carnivores and the reintroduction of regionally extinct species to fenced sites, resulting in what could be considered a reconstruction of pre-European vertebrate assemblages. In semi-arid Australian spinifex mallee ecosystems, we asked: (1) what is the effect of reconstructed pre-European vertebrate assemblages on native arachnid assemblages? and (2) what direct or indirect mechanisms (predation, disturbance and/or competition) could plausibly be responsible for these effects? We compared sites with reconstructed vertebrate assemblages with paired control sites. Arachnids were s led using pitfall trapping and direct searching. Hypotheses regarding mechanisms were tested using scat analysis (predation) and by comparing burrow depth (disturbance) and scorpion mass (competition) between control and reconstructed sites. The dominant dune scorpion, Urodacus yaschenkoi, was less abundant and a wolf spider (Lycosa gibsoni species group) more abundant in reconstructed sites. Differences in spider assemblage composition were marginally non-significant. Scat analysis confirmed native vertebrate predation on scorpions and we found no evidence that competition or disturbance affected scorpions. We, thus, suggest that changes in spider assemblages may have resulted from ecological cascades via decreases in dune scorpions. The loss of omnivorous mammals and other changes associated with the invasion of carnivores may, therefore, have had broad-reaching consequences for native arachnid assemblages in Australian ecosystems.
Dominance–diversity relationships in ant communities differ with invasion
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.
Habitat contrasts reveal a shift in the trophic position of ant assemblages
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-09-2011
DOI: 10.1111/J.1365-2656.2010.01747.X
Abstract: 1. Trophic structure within a guild can be influenced by factors such as resource availability and competition. While ants occupy a wide range of positions in food webs, and ant community composition changes with habitat, it is not well understood if ant genera tend to maintain their position in the trophic structure, or if trophic position varies across habitats. 2. We used ratios of stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen to test for differences in the trophic structure and position of assemblages of ants among habitat types. We tested for differences between assemblages in replicate sites of the land use categories: (i) pastures with old large trees (ii) recently revegetated pastures with small young trees and (iii) remnant woodlands. Known insect herbivores and predatory spiders provided baselines for herbivorous and predaceous arthropods. Soil s les were used to correct for the base level of isotopic enrichment at each site. 3. We found no significant interactions between land use and ant genus for isotope enrichment, indicating that trophic structure is conserved across land use categories. The fixed relative positions of genera in the trophic structure might be re-enforced by competition or some other factor. However, the entire ant assemblage had significantly lower δ(15) N values in revegetated sites, suggesting that ants feed lower down in the food chain i.e. they are more 'herbivorous' in revegetated sites. This may be a result of the high availability of plant sugars, honeydew and herbivorous arthropod prey. 4. Surprisingly, ants in remnants and pastures with trees displayed similar isotopic compositions. Interactions within ant assemblages are thus likely to be resilient to changes in land use, but ant diets in early successional habitats may reflect the simplicity of communities, which may have comparatively lower rates of saprophagy and predation.
The spatial scaling of beta diversity
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-12-2013
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12031
Fine-scale heterogeneity in beetle assemblages under co-occurring Eucalyptus in the same subgenus
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-07-2010
Long‐term responses of desert ant assemblages to climate
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-07-2019
Abstract: Productivity is a key driver of ecosystem structure and function, so long-term studies are critical to understanding ecosystems with high temporal variation in productivity. In some deserts, productivity, driven by moisture availability, varies immensely over time (rainfall) and space (landscape factors). At high productivity, species richness is expected to be driven in opposing directions by abundance (More In iduals Hypothesis - MIH) and competition. While studies investigating the impacts of spatial variation in productivity on community structure are common, the impacts of temporal variability on productivity are poorly understood. We tested how well rainfall predicted the activity, species numbers and assemblage composition of ants and if responses were moderated by landscape position. We also asked whether the number of species (richness per s ling unit and estimated species richness) responded directly to rainfall or was moderated by ant activity or competition from dominant ants. Over a 22-year period, when annual rainfall fluctuated between 79 mm and 570 mm, we s led ants using pitfall traps in paired dune and swale habitats in the Simpson Desert, Australia. We used climate records over this period to model changes in ant assemblages. Activity of dominant ants responded primarily to long-term rainfall, increasing exponentially, while subordinate ants responded to short-term weather and time. Consistent with the MIH, the number of ant species was best predicted by activity, particularly that of subordinate ants. Activity of dominant ants had a declining positive effect on numbers of species. Landscape position strongly predicted species composition, while long-term rainfall determined composition at genus level but not species level. Over time, species composition fluctuated, but several genera consistently increased in activity. Productivity moderators such as long-term rainfall and landscape position are key drivers of ant activity and composition in the study ecosystem, acting indirectly on numbers of species. Numbers of species were explained largely by ant activity, making a strong case for the MIH, but not competition. Longer periods of low rainfall may indirectly reduce species richness in desert ecosystems. However, a trend to increasing richness over time may indicate that conservation management can ameliorate this impact.
Effects of fire severity on the composition and functional traits of litter-dwelling macroinvertebrates in a temperate forest
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2019
Ant assemblages have darker and larger members in cold environments
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-09-2016
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12516
What's hot and what's not – Identifying publication trends in insect ecology
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 17-05-2021
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.13052
Abstract: Research disciplines in science have historically developed in silos but are increasingly multidisciplinary. Here, we assessed how the insect ecology literature published in ecological and entomological journals has developed over the last 20 years and which topics have crossed discipline boundaries. We used structural topic modelling to assess research trends from 34 304 articles published in six ecology journals and six entomology journals between 2000 and 2020. We then identified and compared topics that emerged from the entire body of literature, or corpus, with topics that emerged from a subsection of articles that focused only on insects (insect corpus). We found that, within the entire corpus, topics on ‘Community ecology’, ‘Traits, life history & physiology’ and ‘Ecological methods & theory’ became more prevalent over time (hot topics), whereas ‘Population modelling’, ‘Insect development’, ‘Reproduction & ontogeny’ and ‘Plant growth’ declined in prevalence over the 20 years we surveyed (cold topics). In the insect corpus, we found that hot topics included ‘Thermal tolerance’ and ‘Disease vectors’, whereas cold topics included ‘Herbivore phenology’, ‘Insect‐plant interactions’ and ‘Parasitoids and parasites’. ‘Landscape ecology’ was a growth topic area for both corpora. Our findings suggest that insect‐related research is a major component of the broader ecological discipline, and there are topics in ecology where insect research aligns with general ecological trends. However, specific topics unique to the insect corpora – such as insect taxonomy – are fundamental to both insect and ecology research.
Testing the effects of ecologically extinct mammals on vegetation in arid Australia: A long‐term experimental approach
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-08-2021
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.13097
Abstract: The loss of species from ecosystems can have cascading impacts on species interactions and ecosystem function. Australia has experienced the greatest loss of mammals globally in the past 200 years, but we know little of how the loss of this suite of ecosystem engineers and herbivores has affected vegetation. We used a threatened mammal reintroduction sanctuary to investigate effects of ecologically extinct mammals on plant assemblages. First, we tested the net effects of mammals using a long‐term exclusion experiment within the sanctuary. Second, we used a three‐year disturbance experiment to determine the relative roles of herbivory and physical disturbance in driving changes in plant assemblages. Third, we compared outcomes inside and outside the sanctuary to determine how effects of reintroduced mammals differed from contemporary mammal assemblages. Plant species richness was greatest in mammal exclusion plots and declined across all treatments from 2011 to 2018, probably due to drought. Plant composition changed in response to mammal exclusion, with six species increasing significantly, shrubs and myrmecochorous plants becoming more common and large‐seeded species less common. Responses to experimental disturbance were less clear. Grass and resprouters were more common, and palatable and large‐seeded plants were less common outside the sanctuary (exposed to contemporary mammal assemblage). Our study shows that reintroductions of ecologically extinct mammals have substantial impacts on plant assemblages, both through ecosystem engineering and herbivory, and these impacts differ from those of contemporary mammal faunas, suggesting that pre‐European Australian ecosystems were markedly different from contemporary ecosystems.
Rainfall‐dependent impacts of threatened ecosystem engineers on organic matter cycling
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-09-2019
Conserving ground-dwelling beetles in an endangered woodland community: Multi-scale habitat effects on assemblage diversity
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2009
Restoration of trophic structure in an assemblage of omnivores, Considering a revegetation chronosequence
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-02-2013
Forest Succession and Harvesting of Hemipteran Honeydew by Boreal Ants
Publisher: Finnish Zoological and Botanical Publishing Board
Date: 04-2010
DOI: 10.5735/086.047.0203
The discovery–dominance trade‐off is the exception, rather than the rule
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.
A global database of ant species abundances
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.
Net effects of soil disturbance and herbivory on vegetation by a re-established digging mammal assemblage in arid zone Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2016
Experimental evidence for ecological cascades following threatened mammal reintroduction
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 17-11-2020
DOI: 10.1002/ECY.3191
Climate mediates the effects of disturbance on ant assemblage structure
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.
The Effect of Temperature Increases on an Ant-Hemiptera-Plant Interaction
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 19-07-2016
Nest relocation in the golden spiny ant, Polyrhachis ammon: environmental cues and temporal castes
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-2003
Does morphology predict trophic position and habitat use of ant species and assemblages?
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-10-2015
DOI: 10.1007/S00442-014-3101-9
Abstract: A functional traits-based theory of organismal communities is critical for understanding the principles underlying community assembly, and predicting responses to environmental change. This is particularly true for terrestrial arthropods, of which only 20% are described. Using epigaeic ant assemblages, we asked: (1) can we use morphological variation among species to predict trophic position or preferred microhabitat (2) does the strength of morphological associations suggest recent trait ergence (3) do environmental variables at site scale predict trait sets for whole assemblages? We pitfall-trapped ants from a revegetation chronosequence and measured their morphology, trophic position [using C:N stoichiometry and stable isotope ratios (δ)] and characteristics of microhabitat and macrohabitat. We found strong associations between high trophic position (low C:N and high δ(15)N) in body tissue and morphological traits: predators were larger, had more laterally positioned eyes, more physical protection and tended to be monomorphic. In addition, morphological traits were associated with certain microhabitat features, e.g. smaller heads were associated with the bare ground microhabitat. Trait-microhabitat relationships were more pronounced when phylogenetic adjustments were used, indicating a strong influence of recent trait ergences. At the assemblage level, our fourth corner analysis revealed associations between the prevalence of traits and macrohabitat, although these associations were not the same as those based on microhabitat associations. This study shows direct links between species-level traits and both diet and habitat preference. Trait-based prediction of ecological roles and community structure is thus achievable when integrating stoichiometry, morphology and phylogeny, but scale is an important consideration in such predictions.
Termite activity and decomposition are influenced by digging mammal reintroductions along an aridity gradient
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2016
Does wing morphology affect recolonization of restored farmland by ground-dwelling beetles?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-08-2017
DOI: 10.1111/REC.12420
Functional Roles Affect Diversity-Succession Relationships for Boreal Beetles
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 20-08-2013
Top-down response to spatial variation in productivity and bottom-up response to temporal variation in productivity in a long-term study of desert ants
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 09-2022
Abstract: Under the Ecosystem Exploitation Hypothesis ecosystem productivity predicts trophic complexity, but it is unclear if spatial and temporal drivers of productivity have similar impacts. Long-term studies are necessary to capture temporal impacts on trophic structure in variable ecosystems such as deserts. We s led ants and measured plant resources in the Simpson Desert, central Australia over a 22-year period, during which rainfall varied 10-fold. We s led dune swales (higher nutrient) and crests (lower nutrient) to account for spatial variation in productivity. We asked how temporal and spatial variation in productivity affects the abundance of ant trophic guilds. Precipitation increased vegetation cover, with the difference more pronounced on dune crests seeding and flowering also increased with precipitation. Generalist activity increased over time, irrespective of productivity. Predators were more active in more productive (swale) habitat, i.e. spatial impacts of productivity were greatest at the highest trophic level. By contrast, herbivores (seed harvesters and sugar feeders) increased with long-term rainfall seed harvesters also increased as seeding increased. Temporal impacts of productivity were therefore greatest for low trophic levels. Whether productivity variation leads to top-down or bottom-up structured ecosystems thus depends on the scale and dimension (spatial or temporal) of productivity.
The fourth-corner solution - using predictive models to understand how species traits interact with the environment
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2014
Responses of foliage-living spider assemblage composition and traits to a climatic gradient in Themeda grasslands
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-10-2015
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.12195
An experimental test of the multi-scalar impacts of digging mammal reintroductions on invertebrate burrows
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2019
Habitat disturbance selects against both small and large species across varying climates
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 27-11-2017
DOI: 10.1111/ECOG.03244
Habitat fragmentation in an urban environment: large and small fragments support different arthropod assemblages
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2002
Habitat characteristics may override climatic influences on ant assemblage composition: A study using a 300-km climatic gradient
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2011
DOI: 10.1071/ZO11096
Abstract: We assessed the relative importance of a variety of climatic and habitat variables in structuring ant communities along a 300-km climatic gradient. S ling was conducted in semiarid, transitional and cool temperate climatic zones in New South wales, Australia. Ants were s led at three paired sites of two habitats (pastures and conservation ‘remnants’) in each of the climatic zones (herein referred to as ‘zones’) using pitfall traps. Remnants represented original open forests, while pastures were a mix of grassland vegetation and cleared woodland. We tested the effects of habitat type, region (representing different climatic zones) and environmental variables on assemblages using distance-based similarity measures (Permanova and Permdisp) and canonical analysis of principal coordinates. Assemblage composition differed between habitats and zones, but we found no interaction effects. Assemblage dispersion (between-site heterogeneity) differed between habitats but not among zones. Pasture habitats supported more homogeneous assemblages than remnant habitats. Our findings suggest that habitat type, and structure, homogenise assemblages in pastures, thus overriding the effects of local climate apparent in remnants. As remnants are isolated within the biologically homogeneous pastures, movement of unique species between remnants in response to climate changes may be limited, thus landscape connectivity is likely to be important in reducing species loss.
Interspecific competition and coexistence between wood ants
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Date: 30-06-2016
Subtle structures with not‐so‐subtle functions: A data set of arthropod constructs and their host plants
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-03-2022
DOI: 10.1002/ECY.3639
Abstract: The construction of shelters on plants by arthropods might influence other organisms via changes in colonization, community richness, species composition, and functionality. Arthropods, including beetles, caterpillars, sawflies, spiders, and wasps often interact with host plants via the construction of shelters, building a variety of structures such as leaf ties, tents, rolls, and bags leaf and stem galls, and hollowed out stems. Such constructs might have both an adaptive value in terms of protection (i.e., serve as shelters) but may also exert a strong influence on terrestrial community ersity in the engineered and neighboring hosts via colonization by secondary occupants. Although different traits of the host plant (e.g., physical, chemical, and architectural features) may affect the potential for ecosystem engineering by insects, such effects have been, to a certain degree, overlooked. Further analyses of how plant traits affect the occurrence of shelters may therefore enrich our understanding of the organizing principles of plant‐based communities. This data set includes more than 1000 unique records of ecosystem engineering by arthropods, in the form of structures built on plants. All records have been published in the literature, and span both natural structures (91% of the records) and structures artificially created by researchers (9% of the records). The data were gathered between 1932 and 2021, across more than 50 countries and several ecosystems, ranging from polar to tropical zones. In addition to data on host plants and engineers, we aggregated data on the type of constructs and the identity of inquilines using these structures. This data set highlights the importance of these subtle structures for the organization of terrestrial arthropod communities, enabling hypotheses testing in ecological studies addressing ecosystem engineering and facilitation mediated by constructs. There are no copyright restrictions and please cite this paper when using the data in publications.
Surface Covering of Downed Logs: Drivers of a Neglected Process in Dead Wood Ecology
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 07-10-2010
GlobalAnts: a new database on the geography of ant traits (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-12-2016
DOI: 10.1111/ICAD.12211
Invasive Cane Toads’ Predatory Impact on Dung Beetles is Mediated by Reservoir Type at Artificial Water Points
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-03-2015
How will low-intensity burning after clear-felling affect mid-boreal insect assemblages?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2010
Climate variability and aridity modulate the role of leaf shelters for arthropods: A global experiment.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-03-2022
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.16150
Abstract: Current climate change is disrupting biotic interactions and eroding bio ersity worldwide. However, species sensitive to aridity, high temperatures, and climate variability might find shelter in microclimatic refuges, such as leaf rolls built by arthropods. To explore how the importance of leaf shelters for terrestrial arthropods changes with latitude, elevation, and climate, we conducted a distributed experiment comparing arthropods in leaf rolls versus control leaves across 52 sites along an 11,790 km latitudinal gradient. We then probed the impact of short- versus long-term climatic impacts on roll use, by comparing the relative impact of conditions during the experiment versus average, baseline conditions at the site. Leaf shelters supported larger organisms and higher arthropod biomass and species ersity than non-rolled control leaves. However, the magnitude of the leaf rolls' effect differed between long- and short-term climate conditions, metrics (species richness, biomass, and body size), and trophic groups (predators vs. herbivores). The effect of leaf rolls on predator richness was influenced only by baseline climate, increasing in magnitude in regions experiencing increased long-term aridity, regardless of latitude, elevation, and weather during the experiment. This suggests that shelter use by predators may be innate, and thus, driven by natural selection. In contrast, the effect of leaf rolls on predator biomass and predator body size decreased with increasing temperature, and increased with increasing precipitation, respectively, during the experiment. The magnitude of shelter usage by herbivores increased with the abundance of predators and decreased with increasing temperature during the experiment. Taken together, these results highlight that leaf roll use may have both proximal and ultimate causes. Projected increases in climate variability and aridity are, therefore, likely to increase the importance of biotic refugia in mitigating the effects of climate change on species persistence.
Beetle ecological indicators – A comparison of cost vs reward to understand functional changes in response to restoration actions
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2019
Restoration potential of threatened ecosystem engineers increases with aridity: broad scale effects on soil nutrients and function
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-04-2019
DOI: 10.1111/ECOG.04259
Forestry Alters Foraging Efficiency and Crop Contents of Aphid-Tending Red Wood Ants, Formica aquilonia
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 13-03-2012
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