Daily activity patterns and food preferences in an alpine ant community

Spotti, Fiorenza Augusta; Castracani, Cristina; Grasso, Donató A.; Mori, Alessandra

doi:10.1080/03949370.2014.947634

Cited by 15 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Although species richness is not high if compared with natural systems (Castracani et al, 2010;Spotti et al, 2015), both for OFE and in-field plots, our results are in accordance with those derived from other similar researches in agro-ecosystems (Castracani and Mori, 2006). Pooling together all the observed ant species, their abundances and distribution were neither influenced by agronomic management (OFE) nor by biochar treatments.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 95%

Biochar–macrofauna interplay: Searching for new bioindicators

Castracani

Maienza

Grasso

et al. 2015

Science of The Total Environment

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 95%

Biochar–macrofauna interplay: Searching for new bioindicators

Castracani

Maienza

Grasso

et al. 2015

Science of The Total Environment

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“…This is supported for ants as well by several case studies (e.g. Savolainen and Vepsäläinen 1988, Pisarski and Vepsäläinen 1989, Cerdá et al 1998, Parr and Gibb 2010, Maák et al 2014, Dejean et al 2015, Spotti et al 2015 and the work reviewed quite recently by Cerdá et al (2013). Specifically, ant communities in temperate zones are organized hierarchically and a crucial role in shaping them can be attributed to ecologically and behaviourally dominant species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 58%

Differential impact of two dominant Formica ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) on subordinates in temperate Europe

Trigos-Peral

Markó

Babik

et al. 2016

JHR

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Competition is one of the basic mechanisms shaping ant assemblages. Dominant territorial species are known to restrictively influence the traits of subordinates in various ways. However, there could be diffe rences in the effects of dominants due to differences in their colony structure, lifestyle and also behaviour. We tested this hypothesis in natural circumstances in an area where a Formica exsecta Nyl. supercolony neighbours a strong population of the European slavemaker F. sanguinea Latr. For the purpose of our study three different sites were selected: one dominated by F. exsecta, a neighbouring site dominated by F. sanguinea, and a third site where both species cooccurred. We analyzed the structure of subordinate ant communities based on nest counts, and by recording the activity of ants at baits. Based on our find ings the structure of ant communities differed significantly among the three sites. The F. exsecta site was characterized by the lowest nest density of subordinates, especially in the case of aggressive species as Lasius platythorax Seifert. At baits even the simple presence of the dominant limited the abundance and occur rence of subordinates. In contrast, no such negative effect could be revealed at the F. sanguinea site. The community of the mixed site showed intermediate features in many respects. Generally, the supercolonial

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“…While most studies using standard baiting protocols were done in the tropics and temperate regions (e.g. Bestelmeyer et al, 2000;Kaspari et al, 2012;Fowler et al, 2014;Véle & Modlinger, 2016), there is a lack of such studies along mountain slopes or in alpine areas (but see Peters et al, 2014;Spotti et al, 2015;Orivel et al, 2018). The only study we were able to fi nd that explores feeding preferences of ants in an alpine setting is that of Spotti et al 2015, with just one site located in an alpine environment above the tree line.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alpine ants are surprisingly poorly studied (Glaser, 2006;Spotti et al, 2015). In fact, apart from some regional faunal treatments and faunistic reports (e.g Cherix & Higashi, 1979;Glaser, 2006;Seifert, 2007;Wagner, 2014), there are only a few recent papers (Reymond et al, 2013;Spotti et al, 2015) that give a deeper insight into the community composition, feeding behaviour, community constraints and concomitant changes in alpine ant assemblages with altitude. Accordingly, even though it appears to be generally accepted by ant ecologist that ant nest density decreases with increasing altitude in the Alps, we were unable to fi nd any study that corroborates this hypothesis (but see Seifert, 2017).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bait visitation by Formica lemani (Hymenoptera: Fomicidae) indicates shortage of carbohydrates in alpine grasslands

Guariento¹,

Martini²,

Fiedler³

2018

Eur. J. Entomol.

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Insights can be gained by analysing the feeding decisions of animals in terms of nutrient demands at a species or community level. Using carbohydrate and protein food baits, resource use and food preferences of Formica (Serviformica) lemani were determined at nine locations situated at different altitudes (1875 to 2400 m a.s.l.) in the alpine grassland belt above the tree line in Austria and northern Italy. F. lemani is the most common species of ant in this habitat. Sucrose baits placed around ant colonies were visited by signifi cantly (3.9 times) more workers than protein baits. This indicates that sources of sugar (carbohydrate) are in short supply in the alpine zone, whereas availability of prey items appears to be less constraining. Overall, we recorded a decrease in the incidence of visits to baits from low (31.9% baits attracting ants at least once) to high altitudes (16.7%). Foraging ants never visited 51.5% of the baits exposed for periods of 75 min. This indicates that with increasing altitude competition for food among ant colonies becomes less intense in alpine grassland ant communities.

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Daily activity patterns and food preferences in an alpine ant community

Cited by 15 publications

References 51 publications

Biochar–macrofauna interplay: Searching for new bioindicators

Biochar–macrofauna interplay: Searching for new bioindicators

Differential impact of two dominant Formica ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) on subordinates in temperate Europe

Bait visitation by Formica lemani (Hymenoptera: Fomicidae) indicates shortage of carbohydrates in alpine grasslands

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