Niemelä Pekka, Laine Kari J
Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20500, Turku, Finland.
Oecologia. 1986 Sep;68(3):476-478. doi: 10.1007/BF01036758.
The existence of green islands around wood-ant nests in otherwise damaged birch forests has been explained by two alternative hypotheses: (1) predation by ants protects the trees against defoliators, and (2) the ants ameliorate tree vigor by concentrating soil nutrients. The size of green islands and the nitrogen content of the soil and foliage do not support the nutrition hypothesis. These data and general knowledge about the foraging strategy of wood ants are consistent with the predation hypothesis.
在原本受损的桦树林中，木蚁巢穴周围存在着绿色孤岛，这一现象有两种不同的假说可以解释：（1）蚂蚁的捕食行为保护树木免受食叶害虫侵害；（2）蚂蚁通过集中土壤养分来改善树木活力。绿色孤岛的大小以及土壤和树叶中的氮含量并不支持养分假说。这些数据以及关于木蚁觅食策略的一般知识与捕食假说相符。
