Lawhorn Kane A, Richards Jeannine H, Gora Evan M, Burchfield Jeffrey C, Bitzer Phillip M, Gutierrez Cesar, Yanoviak Stephen P
Department of Biology, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
Department of Ecology and Environmental Studies, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, Florida, USA.
Ecology. 2025 Jan;106(1):e4521. doi: 10.1002/ecy.4521.
Lightning strikes are a common source of disturbance in tropical forests, and a typical strike generates large quantities of dead wood. Lightning-damaged trees are a consistent resource for tropical saproxylic (i.e., dead wood-dependent) organisms, but patterns of consumer colonization and succession following lightning strikes are not known. Here, we documented the occurrence of four common consumer taxa spanning multiple trophic levels-beetles, Azteca ants, termites, and fungi-in lightning strike sites and nearby undamaged control sites over time in a lowland forest of Panama. Beetle abundance was 10 times higher in lightning strike sites than in paired control sites, and beetle assemblages were compositionally distinct. Those in strike sites were initially dominated by bark and ambrosia beetles (Curculionidae: Platypodinae, Scolytinae); bark and ambrosia beetles, and predaceous taxa increased in abundance relatively synchronously. Beetle activity and fungal fruiting bodies, respectively, were 3.8 and 12.2 times more likely to be observed in lightning-damaged trees in strike sites versus undamaged trees in paired control sites, whereas the occurrence probabilities of Azteca ants and termites were similar between damaged trees in lightning strike sites and undamaged trees in control sites. Tree size also was important; larger dead trees in strike sites were more likely to support beetles, termites, and fungal fruiting bodies, and larger trees-regardless of mortality status-were more likely to host Azteca. Beetle presence was associated with higher rates of subsequent fungal presence, providing some evidence of beetle-associated priority effects on colonization patterns. These results suggest that lightning plays a key role in supporting tropical insect and fungal consumers by providing localized patches of suitable habitat. Any climate-driven changes in lightning frequency in tropical forests will likely affect a broad suite of consumer organisms, potentially altering ecosystem-level processes.
雷击是热带森林中常见的干扰源，一次典型的雷击会产生大量枯木。遭受雷击受损的树木是热带食腐生物（即依赖枯木生存的生物）持续的资源，但雷击后消费者定殖和演替的模式尚不清楚。在这里，我们记录了巴拿马低地森林中，随着时间推移，四个跨越多个营养级的常见消费者类群——甲虫、阿兹特克蚂蚁、白蚁和真菌——在雷击地点和附近未受损对照地点的出现情况。雷击地点的甲虫丰度比配对的对照地点高10倍，而且甲虫群落的组成不同。雷击地点的甲虫群落最初以树皮甲虫和食菌小蠹（象甲科：扁小蠹亚科、小蠹亚科）为主；树皮甲虫、食菌小蠹和捕食性类群的丰度相对同步增加。与配对对照地点未受损树木相比，雷击地点遭受雷击受损的树木中，分别观察到甲虫活动和真菌子实体的可能性高出3.8倍和12.2倍，而雷击地点受损树木中阿兹特克蚂蚁和白蚁的出现概率与对照地点未受损树木相似。树木大小也很重要；雷击地点较大的枯树更有可能有甲虫、白蚁和真菌子实体，而且无论死亡状态如何，较大的树木更有可能有阿兹特克蚂蚁栖息。甲虫的存在与随后真菌出现的较高比率相关，这为甲虫对定殖模式的优先效应提供了一些证据。这些结果表明，雷击通过提供局部适宜栖息地斑块，在支持热带昆虫和真菌消费者方面发挥着关键作用。热带森林中雷击频率的任何由气候驱动的变化都可能影响广泛的消费者生物群落，潜在地改变生态系统层面的过程。
