Natural Resources Institute Finland, Latokartanonkaari 9, 00790, Helsinki, Finland.
Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland.
Oecologia. 2024 Oct;206(1-2):187-197. doi: 10.1007/s00442-024-05626-8. Epub 2024 Sep 28.
The distribution of species in a patchy habitat may be influenced by competitive interactions. The dominant and highly competitive boreal ant species belong to the Formica rufa group. A pair of species, Formica aquilonia and Formica polyctena, require extensive territories due to their multi-nest breeding habits. The coexistence and habitat patterns of these two wood ant species in the boreal forest landscape were investigated. Forest characteristics in the vicinity of nests in forest patches were similar for both species, but they did not coexist in the same sampling plots of 0.79 ha in forest patches, indicating competitive exclusion. The sampling plots in large forest patches were more occupied by F. aquilonia, while no such association was found for F. polyctena. At a larger spatial scale (78.5 ha), we found that F. polyctena was more tolerant of smaller forest patches than F. aquilonia suggesting that these two ant species can coexist in moderately fragmented forest landscapes. However, forest habitat loss, fragmentation and climate-induced changes in forest tree structure may shift the species balance in favour of F. polyctena over F. aquilonia in the future.
在斑块状生境中，物种的分布可能受到竞争相互作用的影响。占优势且高度竞争的北方蚂蚁物种属于红火蚁组。由于多巢繁殖习性，一对物种，即红褐林蚁和聚纹多刺蚁，需要广阔的领地。研究了这两种木蚁在北方森林景观中的共存和栖息地模式。两种物种巢附近森林斑块的森林特征相似，但它们并未在森林斑块的 0.79 公顷相同采样点中共存，表明存在竞争排斥。在较大的森林斑块中，F. aquilonia 占据的采样点更多，而 F. polyctena 则没有这种关联。在更大的空间尺度（78.5 公顷）上，我们发现 F. polyctena 比 F. aquilonia 更能耐受较小的森林斑块，这表明这两个蚂蚁物种可以在中等破碎化的森林景观中共存。然而，森林生境丧失、破碎化以及气候引起的森林树木结构变化可能会导致物种平衡向 F. polyctena 倾斜，而不是 F. aquilonia。
