Armbrecht Inge, Perfecto Ivette, Vandermeer John
School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, 430 East University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Science. 2004 Apr 9;304(5668):284-6. doi: 10.1126/science.1094981.
A pattern noted in ecology is that diversity at one level begets diversity at other levels. In the case of consumers competing for similar resources, the diversity of those resources is thought to provide some degree of niche diversification in which a diverse set of consumer species can coexist. If, however, the diverse resources are not sufficiently distinct from one another, from the standpoint of the consumer species, such niche diversification will not exist. We experimentally show that a diverse array of twigs attracted 80% more species of twig-nesting ants than a monospecific collection of twigs. The specific tree species from which the twigs were derived did not explain the pattern. It appears that diversity per se at one level (twigs) creates conditions that promote diversity at another level (nesting ants).
生态学中一个显著的模式是，一个层面的多样性会引发其他层面的多样性。在消费者争夺相似资源的情况下，这些资源的多样性被认为能提供一定程度的生态位多样化，使得多种消费者物种能够共存。然而，如果这些多样的资源彼此之间没有足够的差异，从消费者物种的角度来看，这种生态位多样化就不会存在。我们通过实验表明，与单一树种的树枝相比，多种树枝吸引的在树枝上筑巢的蚂蚁物种多80%。树枝所源自的具体树种并不能解释这一模式。看来一个层面（树枝）的多样性本身创造了促进另一个层面（筑巢蚂蚁）多样性的条件。
