Anthills as habitat islands in a sea of temperate pasture

Evaluation of seed‐dispersal services by ants at a temperate pasture: Results of direct observations in an ant suppression experiment

“…Frequencies of dispersal events are counted per plot out of a total of 400 diaspores offered. There was a gradient of ant activity (Figure S3) corresponding to a gradient of vegetation productivity across the locality (for details see Konečná et al, 2021).…”

“…The dominant ant species was non‐dispersing Lasius flavus , while the remaining species were dispersers. For more detailed description of the locality, see Konečná et al ( 2021 ).…”

“…Frequencies of dispersal events are counted per plot out of a total of 400 diaspores offered. There was a gradient of ant activity (Figure S3 ) corresponding to a gradient of vegetation productivity across the locality (for details see Konečná et al, 2021 ). Productivity was decreasing while activity was increasing from first pair of plots, more in controls (quantified by number of dispersal events), thus eight columns (i.e., pairs of an enclosure and control) were used in all the analyses as a random factor.…”

“…In temperate open habitats, in which our focal locality belongs, directed dispersal hypothesis was supported by two out of six studies and escape hypothesis based on distance dispersal supported by 10 out of 13 (Giladi, 2006 ). The anthill or other species‐specific final location where the intact seed may be redispersed can serve as a safe site for germination (Ben‐Zvi et al, 2021 ; Gorb et al, 2000 ; Konečná et al, 2021 ). However, this is not always the case, since the seeds can be dropped on the way toward anthill (Gorb & Gorb, 1999 ).…”

Functional composition of ant assemblages in habitat islands is driven by habitat factors and landscape composition

“…To explore the effects of habitat factors and landscape composition on the fauna of grassland islands, ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) are considered as good model taxa, as (i) they are sensitive to habitat loss on the landscape level 30 , and the species composition of ant assemblages can be affected by the area of the focal habitat patch 31 ; (ii) ants respond quickly to changes in habitat quality 32 ; (iii) they show high diversity in many habitat types 33 ; (iv) they play essential role in almost every terrestrial ecosystem type, influencing other species through mutualistic interactions with various hemipterans, plants and fungi 33 – 36 ; and (v) ants interact with soil processes by mediating chemical changes such as the shifting of pH towards neutral values and increasing the nutrient content of soil close to their nests 37 , hence they can be considered as ecosystem engineers 34 , 38 . Besides the changes in the species richness of ant assemblages, habitat factors and landscape composition can also affect their functional traits in small habitat islands 39 .…”