Can environmental complexity predict functional trait composition of ground-dwelling ant assemblages? A test across the Amazon Basin

Guilherme, Diego Rodrigues; Souza, Jorge Luiz Pereira; Franklin, Elizabeth; Pequeno, Pedro Aurélio Costa Lima; Chagas, Andreia Conceição das; Baccaro, Fabrício Beggiato

doi:10.1016/j.actao.2019.05.004

Cited by 34 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…There are several morphological traits that we find to be indisputably linked to ecology. Many of these have been identified through other comparative approaches, which informed our own sampling (Gibb et al., 2015; Guilherme et al., 2019; Kaspari & Weiser, 1999; Parr et al., 2003; Weiser & Kaspari, 2006; Yates & Andrew, 2011; Yates et al., 2014). We build upon these previous key findings through multivariate analysis, which explicitly incorporates combinations of these traits to provide an integrative view of overall morphology as it relates to ecology.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Leg elongation may be reflective of the need to move faster and more efficiently for resource acquisition or predator evasion, though the pattern is not universal. Femur length has also been shown to be invariant or even positively correlated with habitat complexity (Guilherme et al., 2019; Parr et al., 2003). Eye size is also correlated both with habitat and with trophic level; ants living in subterranean or leaf litter habitats exhibit smaller eyes than surface‐foraging ants, and predators typically possess smaller eyes than omnivores (Gibb et al., 2015; Guilherme et al., 2019; Weiser & Kaspari, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Femur length has also been shown to be invariant or even positively correlated with habitat complexity (Guilherme et al., 2019; Parr et al., 2003). Eye size is also correlated both with habitat and with trophic level; ants living in subterranean or leaf litter habitats exhibit smaller eyes than surface‐foraging ants, and predators typically possess smaller eyes than omnivores (Gibb et al., 2015; Guilherme et al., 2019; Weiser & Kaspari, 2006). Overall body size reflects life‐history habits: ants in more complex habitats tend to be smaller than ants in open spaces (Weiser & Kaspari, 2006; Yates et al., 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multidimensional trait morphology predicts ecology across ant lineages

Sosiak

Barden

2020

Functional Ecology

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Understanding the link between ecology and morphology is a fundamental goal in biology. Ants are diverse terrestrial organisms, known to exhibit ecologically driven morphological variation. While relationships between individual traits and ecologies have been identified, multidimensional interactions among traits and their cumulative predictive power remain unknown. As selective pressures may generate convergent syndromes spanning multiple traits, we applied multivariate analyses across a wide sampling of taxa to assess ecomorphological variation in an integrative context. How well does morphology predict ecology? Moreover, are there quantitatively supported ant ecomorphs? We investigated the links between trait morphology and ecology by assembling a morphometric dataset spanning over 160 species within 110 genera. As ants occupy a wide range of ecologies, we compiled natural history data on nesting microhabitat, foraging stratum and functional role into 35 defined niche combinations. This tripartite ecological classification and our morphological dataset were optimized under dimension reduction techniques including principal component analysis, principal coordinate analysis, linear discriminant analysis and random forest supervised machine learning. Our results describe ant ecomorphospace as comprising regions of shared, generalized morphology as well as unique phenotypic space associated with specialized ecologies. Dimension reduction and model‐based approaches predict ecology with 77%–85% accuracy and Random Forest analysis consistently outperforms LDA. While accounting for shared ancestry, we found eye, antennal scape and leg morphology to be most informative in differentiating among ecologies. We also note some heterogeneity between trait significance in each ecological aspect (nesting niche, foraging niche, functional role). To increase the utility of ecomorphological classification we simplified our 35 observed niche combinations into 10 ecomorph syndromes, which were also predicted by morphology. The predictive power of these machine learning methods underscores the strong role that ecology has in convergently shaping overall body plan morphology across ant lineages. We include a pipeline for predictive ecomorphological modelling using morphometric data, which may be expanded with additional specimen‐based and natural history data. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multidimensional trait morphology predicts ecology across ant lineages

Sosiak

Barden

2020

Functional Ecology

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“…This is not surprising, given that habitat structure had been thought to determine the movements of ants as they are usually impeded by grass stems or woody twigs (Nooten et al, 2019). In the Amazon basin, Guilherme et al (2019) reported the effects of habitat complexity on ant species foraging strategies and behaviour.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Pugnacious ant (Anoplolepis custodiens) confounds ant assemblage responses to bush encroachment

Munyai¹,

Foord²,

Slotow³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Habitat structure is a key determinant of variation in biodiversity. The effects of increased vertical and horizontal vegetation structure can result in marked shifts in animal communities. This is particularly true for ants in response to woody thickening, with predicted negative impacts on ant diversity. We used pitfall traps to study the response of epigeic ants in two co-occurring dominant habitats (closed and open) of an African savanna biome experiencing extensive woody thickening. Although species richness was higher in open habitats, evenness was significantly lower. Thickening explained significant amounts of variation in ant composition, but site-specific characteristics and seasonality were more important. These site-specific characteristics were largely linked to Anoplolepis custodiens, a species that were locally abundant in open habitats with clayey soils, where they often accounted for more than 90% of all ant activity. As A. custodiens also responds positively to disturbance, indiscriminate bush clearing could lead to knock on effects associated with the numerical and behavioural dominance of this species.

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“…Although we sampled ant species of all genera, we measured functional traits only for Pheidole species due to their high dominance among species occurrence in our samples. We quantified five morphological traits commonly investigated in ants that often relate to specialization in species foraging and habitat complexity (Guilherme et al, ; Silva & Brandão, ). The hypothesized functions of such morphometric traits are linked to metabolism, resource acquisition, trophic position, and/or habitat use of the species (for further details on these traits and their presumed functions, see Parr et al, ; Santoandré et al, ; Weiser & Kaspari, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional richness shows spatial scale dependency in Pheidole ant assemblages from Neotropical savannas

Neves

Moura

Maravalhas

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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There is a growing recognition that spatial scale is important for understanding ecological processes shaping community membership, but empirical evidence on this topic is still scarce. Ecological processes such as environmental filtering can decrease functional differences among species and promote functional clustering of species assemblages, whereas interspecific competition can do the opposite. These different ecological processes are expected to take place at different spatial scales, with competition being more likely at finer scales and environmental filtering most likely at coarser scales. We used a comprehensive dataset on species assemblages of a dominant ant genus, Pheidole, in the Cerrado (savanna) biodiversity hotspot to ask how functional richness relates to species richness gradients and whether such relationships vary across spatial scales. Functional richness of Pheidole assemblages decreased with increasing species richness, but such relationship did not vary across different spatial scales. Species were more functionally dissimilar at finer spatial scales, and functional richness increased less than expected with increasing species richness. Our results indicate a tighter packing of the functional volume as richness increases and point out to a primary role for environmental filtering in shaping membership of Pheidole assemblages in Neotropical savannas.OPEN RESEARCH BADGES This article has been awarded Open Materials, Open Data, Preregistered Research Designs Badges. All materials and data are publicly accessible via the Open Science Framework at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.31201jg

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Can environmental complexity predict functional trait composition of ground-dwelling ant assemblages? A test across the Amazon Basin

Cited by 34 publications

References 42 publications

Multidimensional trait morphology predicts ecology across ant lineages

Multidimensional trait morphology predicts ecology across ant lineages

A Pugnacious ant (Anoplolepis custodiens) confounds ant assemblage responses to bush encroachment

Functional richness shows spatial scale dependency in Pheidole ant assemblages from Neotropical savannas

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