Effects of a common harvester ant (Messor andrei) on richness and abundance of soil biota

Boulton, April M.; Jaffee, B. A.; Scow, Kate M.

doi:10.1016/s0929-1393(03)00046-5

Cited by 67 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Our results align with previous studies showing that ants increase soil nutrients and the abundance of most soil taxa (Wagner et al 1997;Laakso and Seta¨la¨1998). Boulton et al (2003) showed that M. andrei nests at this same site have higher concentrations of N, P, and OM and more abundant soil taxa. Although many studies have examined how ants affect soil chemistry, only a handful of studies have shown that ants positively affect soil food webs.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…We chose to space our 'satellite' cores 3 m from the nest because ant nests can influence the surrounding soil up to 1-2 m away from the nest center (e.g., Whitford and DiMarco 1995;Dean et al 1997). Previous work in this system also supports these findings (Boulton et al 2003), so placing our experimental cores 3 m from the nest center should have constituted non-ant areas.…”

Section: Experimental Designsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…We quantified soil biota richness and abundance following methods described in detail in Boulton et al (2003). For each soil core, abundance and richness was determined for bacteria, fungi, and other eukaryotes (e.g., ciliates) using phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis.…”

Section: Soil Biotamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We recently reported that M. andrei increases abundance and richness of multiple soil taxa and concentrates N, P, and organic matter (OM) in their nests (Boulton et al 2003). Other researchers have observed similar trends for other ant species (Wagner et al 1997;Laakso and Seta¨la¨1998;Folgarait 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How Ant Nests Increase Soil Biota Richness and Abundance: A Field Experiment

Boulton

Amberman

2006

Biodivers Conserv

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Although many studies have shown that ant nests tend to increase soil nutrient concentrations, only a few have examined ant impact on soil biota. To date, no one has examined the mechanism behind this complex 'ant effect.' In this study, we employed a 2 · 2 complete factorial design (water · food) in the field to mimic the effects of harvester ant nests (Messor andrei) on soil. We hypothesized that, in the absence of ants, addition of moisture and food (seeds and insects) would interact to produce conditions found in ant nests. Our results indicated that the addition of food to the soil (regardless of water addition) best mimicked the conditions found inside M. andrei nests. Both food-treated and ant-nest soils supported higher numbers of bacteria, nematodes, miscellaneous eukaryotes, and microarthropods compared to the other soil treatments. Microbial richness was also highest in ant and food-treated samples. Moreover, the ant effect in our experiment occurred in just two months. Because ants are a widespread, abundant group with many long-lived species, they could substantially influence soil properties and belowground food webs and may have important restoration/conservation implications for terrestrial communities.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Experimental Designsupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Soil Biotamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How Ant Nests Increase Soil Biota Richness and Abundance: A Field Experiment

Boulton

Amberman

2006

Biodivers Conserv

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“…The majority of ecological studies regarding myrmecophiles has focused on large arthropods (often Coleoptera), and most of the studies refer to the Acari recovered from the nest as simply "mites" or at another broad taxonomic level which provides little insight into the possible roles of the mites within the ant colonies [13][14][15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mites (Acari) Associated with the Desert Seed Harvester Ant,Messor pergandei(Mayr)

Uppstrom

Klompen

2011

Psyche: A Journal of Entomology

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Mites (Acari) associated with the seed harvester ant Messor pergandei were investigated in the Sonoran desert of Arizona. At least seven representatives of the mite genera Armacarus, Lemanniella, Petalomium, Forcellinia, Histiostoma, Unguidispus, and Cosmoglyphus are phoretically associated with M. pergandei. Most of these morphospecies show preference for specific phoretic attachment sites and primarily use female alates rather than male alates for dispersal. Five mite morphospecies were found in low numbers inhabiting the chaff piles: Tydeidae sp., Procaeculus sp., Anystidae sp., Bakerdania sp., and Tetranychidae sp. The phoretic Petalomium sp. was observed consuming fungus growing on a dead queen, but the roles of the other mite species remain mostly unresolved.

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Fungal communities in the garden chamber soils of leaf‐cutting ants

Rodrigues

Passarini²,

Ferro

et al. 2013

J. Basic Microbiol.

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Leaf-cutting ants modify the properties of the soil adjacent to their nests. Here, we examined whether such an ant-altered environment impacts the belowground fungal communities. Fungal diversity and community structure of soil from the fungus garden chambers of Atta sexdens rubropilosa and Atta bisphaerica, two widespread leaf-cutting ants in Brazil, were determined and compared with non-nest soils. Culture-dependent methods revealed similar species richness but different community compositions between both types of soils. Penicillium janthinellum and Trichoderma spirale were the prevalent isolates in fungus chamber soils and non-nest soils, respectively. In contrast to cultivation methods, analyses of clone libraries based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region indicated that richness of operational taxonomic units significantly differed between soils of the fungus chamber and non-nest soils. FastUnifrac analyses based on ITS sequences further revealed a clear distinction in the community structure between both types of soils. Plectania milleri and an uncultured Clavariaceae fungus were prevalent in fungus chamber soils and non-nest soils, respectively. FastUnifrac analyses also revealed that fungal community structures of soil from the garden chambers markedly differed among ant species. Our findings suggest that leaf-cutting ants affect fungal communities in the soil from the fungus chamber in comparison to non-nest soils.

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Effects of a common harvester ant (Messor andrei) on richness and abundance of soil biota

Cited by 67 publications

References 35 publications

How Ant Nests Increase Soil Biota Richness and Abundance: A Field Experiment

How Ant Nests Increase Soil Biota Richness and Abundance: A Field Experiment

Mites (Acari) Associated with the Desert Seed Harvester Ant,Messor pergandei(Mayr)

Fungal communities in the garden chamber soils of leaf‐cutting ants

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