Murnen Cody J, Gonthier David J, Philpott Stacy M
Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606, USA.
Environ Entomol. 2013 Aug;42(4):668-76. doi: 10.1603/EN12294.
Community assembly is driven by multiple factors, including resource availability and habitat requirements. Litter nesting ants respond to food and nest site availability, and adding food and nests may increase ant species richness and abundance. However, litter decomposers share food resources with ants, and increasing food availability may speed decomposition processes, eliminating twigs and seeds in which litter ants nest. We manipulated ant food and nest resources in three habitat types (forest, high-shade coffee, and low-shade coffee) to determine ant community responses after 1 and 2 mo. We examined changes in numbers of ant species, colonies, workers, brood, colony growth rate, and ant species composition. Habitat type strongly affected ant communities, influencing ant species richness, numbers of colonies and workers, and ant species composition. However, food addition and nest addition did not affect these community characteristics. Colony growth rate did not differ with food addition but was greater in forest and low-shade coffee compared with high-shade coffee. Habitat differences in colony growth may be because of presence of an aggressive species (Wasmannia auropunctata Roger) in high-shade coffee plots or naturally low arthropod densities during a time when ant colonization was low. Thus, in coffee landscapes, habitat type impacts litter nesting ant community structure, composition, and colony growth rate; however, food and nest addition had small impacts.
群落组装受多种因素驱动，包括资源可用性和栖息地需求。落叶层筑巢蚂蚁对食物和巢穴的可用性做出反应，增加食物和巢穴可能会增加蚂蚁物种的丰富度和数量。然而，落叶层分解者与蚂蚁共享食物资源，增加食物可用性可能会加速分解过程，消除落叶层蚂蚁筑巢的树枝和种子。我们在三种栖息地类型（森林、高荫蔽咖啡园和低荫蔽咖啡园）中操纵蚂蚁的食物和巢穴资源，以确定1个月和2个月后蚂蚁群落的反应。我们研究了蚂蚁物种数量、蚁群数量、工蚁数量、幼虫数量、蚁群生长速率和蚂蚁物种组成的变化。栖息地类型对蚂蚁群落有强烈影响，影响蚂蚁物种丰富度、蚁群数量和工蚁数量以及蚂蚁物种组成。然而，添加食物和添加巢穴并没有影响这些群落特征。蚁群生长速率在添加食物后没有差异，但与高荫蔽咖啡园相比，在森林和低荫蔽咖啡园中更高。蚁群生长的栖息地差异可能是由于高荫蔽咖啡园中存在一种具有攻击性的物种（黄足悍蚁Roger），或者是在蚂蚁定殖率较低的时期节肢动物密度自然较低。因此，在咖啡种植景观中，栖息地类型影响落叶层筑巢蚂蚁的群落结构、组成和蚁群生长速率；然而，添加食物和巢穴的影响较小。
