Ant species richness and interactions in canopies of two distinct successional stages in a tropical dry forest

2019 ◽  
Vol 106 (5-6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reuber Antoniazzi ◽  
Raphael N. S. L. Garro ◽  
Wesley Dáttilo ◽  
Sérvio P. Ribeiro ◽  
Frederico S. Neves
Sociobiology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatianne Gizelle Marques ◽  
Mário Marcos Espírito-Santo ◽  
Frederico Siqueira Neves ◽  
José Henrique Schoereder

This study identified the main biological mechanisms governing the diversity of ants on different ecological time scales. Ants were sampled in 15 plots distributed in early, intermediate and late stages of succession (five plots per stage) at the Parque Estadual da Mata Seca, Brazil. At each sample point, unbaited pitfall traps were installed in hypogaeic, epigaeic and arboreal strata. We collected 95 ant species from 26 genera and nine subfamilies. Our results indicated that there was an increase in species richness in advanced stages of succession. We also observed that ant assemblages were different among successional stages. For the arboreal and epigaeic strata, species richness did not change with succession progression, but species composition of these two strata differed among successional stages. Unlike to arboreal and epigaeic ants, hypogaiec ant species richness was higher in the intermediate and late stages of succession and the composition of hypogaeic ants differed among successional stages. Similarity between ant species foraging in arboreal and epigaeic strata decreases with succession progression and β-diversity was higher in advanced successional stages. Additionally, species richness was higher in the dry season, whereas the composition of ant assemblages did not change between seasons. A considerable fraction of the ant assemblage was found only in advanced stages of succession, demonstrating the importance of secondary habitats in maintaining biodiversity in dry forests.


Trees ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 1075-1086
Author(s):  
Joan Sebastian Aguilar-Peralta ◽  
Antonio González-Rodríguez ◽  
Yurixhi Maldonado-López ◽  
Marcílio Fagundes ◽  
Maurício L. Faria ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moisés Méndez-Toribio ◽  
Ana María González-Di Pierro ◽  
Mauricio Quesada ◽  
Julieta Benítez-Malvido

Abstract:In dioecious plant species different frugivore activity between genders may influence the abundance and richness of the seedling banks underneath their canopies throughout seed removal and dispersal. In the tropical dry forest of Chamela, on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, the role of S. purpurea female trees as nucleation sites of regeneration was investigated. The standing density, species richness and dispersal syndrome of woody seedlings (i.e. trees and shrubs, 10–100 cm tall) recruited underneath and outside the canopy of 10 male and 10 female S. purpurea trees were recorded in a total of 160 1-m2 plots. Total density was greater in seedling communities associated with female trees (i.e. underneath and outside their canopies) as compared with male trees (231 vs. 153 seedlings, respectively); whereas overall species richness was greater underneath female canopies. Further, the density of zoochorous species were greater underneath the canopy of S. purpurea females (range = 0–5 plants m−2), than elsewhere (outside female canopies, range = 0–3 plants m−2; underneath and outside male canopies, range = 0–2 plants m−2), suggesting a directional dispersal bias towards them. Females of dioecious plant species may act as nucleation sites of initial seedling recruitment in tropical dry forests.


2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 1625
Author(s):  
Jose Alejandro Vergara Paternina ◽  
Jesús Ballesteros Correa ◽  
Carlos González Charrasquiel ◽  
Juan C. Linares Arias

In Colombia the tropical dry forest is one of the most threatened and least known ecosystems; these have been impacted by different transformation processes and habitat fragmentation, which have affected bird conditions and survival. This research evaluated the influence of landscape elements (forest and pastures with different tree covers) on bird diversity in the tropical dry forest of Córdoba, Colombia. The study was developed within an extensive livestock landscape to characterize the avifauna in four habitat types formed by fragments of secondary forests with different tree cover: secondary forest, pastures with high tree cover, pastures with low tree cover and only pastures. The influence of tree cover on bird diversity was evaluated with monthly samplings in 200 m long transects (per habitat), with two observation intervals (6:00 - 9:00 and 15:00-18:00), from September 2011 to May 2012. A total of 6 667 individuals belonging to 180 species and 48 families of birds were registered. The most abundant species were Columbina talpacoti (5.37 %), Brotogeris jugularis (5.14 %), Tyrannus melancholicus (4.81 %) and Bubulcus ibis (4.80 %). The most abundant family was Tyrannidae (16.4 %), followed by Psitacidae (9.0 %) and Columbidae (8.2 %). The family with the highest number of species was Tyrannidae with 28 species, followed by Accipitridae and Icteridae with 10 species each. The greatest species richness was present in the secondary forest habitat, followed by the pastures with high tree cover, and pastures with low cover. The lowest abundance and species richness was found in pastures without tree cover with significant differences between the habitats (Fisher, p <0.05). According to the Shannon index, the diversity of birds was higher in the secondary forests. In contrast, the lowest diversity was found in pastures without tree cover. The greatest species richness occurred in the months of October and November. In the rest of the sampling period, the number of recorded species and individuals showed some stability. The importance of trees presence in extensive livestock areas was evidenced because they help to contain an important diversity of bird species, and they also generate connectivity among fragments of secondary forests in the cattle landscape.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.E. Barry ◽  
G.A. Pinter ◽  
J.W. Strini ◽  
K. Yang ◽  
I.G. Lauko ◽  
...  

SummaryGlobal biodiversity is declining at rates faster than at any other point in human history. Experimental manipulations of biodiversity at small spatial scales have demonstrated that communities with fewer species consistently produce less biomass than higher diversity communities. However, understanding how the global extinction crisis is likely to impact global ecosystem functioning will require applying these local and largely experimental findings to natural systems at substantially larger spatial and temporal scales. Here we propose that we can use two simple macroecological patterns – the species area curve and the biomass-area curve – to upscale the species richness-biomass relationship. We demonstrate that at local spatial scales, each additional species will contribute more to biomass production with increasing area sampled because the species-area curve saturates and the biomass-area curve increases monotonically. We use species-area and biomass-area curves from a Minnesota grassland and a Panamanian tropical dry forest to examine the species richness – biomass relationship at three and ten sampling extents, respectively. In both datasets, the observed relationship between biodiversity and biomass production at every sampling extent was predicted from simple species-area and biomass-area relationships. These findings suggest that macroecological patterns like the species-area curve underpin the scaling of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning research and can be used to predict these relationships at the global scales where they are relevant for species loss.


Flora ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 208 (7) ◽  
pp. 445-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Melo dos Santos ◽  
Kleber Andrade da Silva ◽  
Ulysses Paulino de Albuquerque ◽  
Josiene Maria Falcão Fraga dos Santos ◽  
Clarissa Gomes Reis Lopes ◽  
...  

2002 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
DEBORAH K. KENNARD

Stand structure, species richness and population structures of tree species were characterized in 12 stands representing 50 y of succession following slash-and-burn agriculture in a tropical dry forest in lowland Bolivia. Estimates of tree species richness, canopy cover and basal area reached or surpassed 75% of mature forest levels in the 5-, 8-, and 23-y-old stands respectively. Total stem density of the 50-y-old stand was almost twice that of the mature forest stand. This rapid recovery may be due to a high percentage of sprouting tree species, potentially high seed fall into abandoned fields, or the disturbance history of the mature stand. The even-aged size-class structures, dominance of long-lived pioneers, and presence of charcoal and pottery shards in soils of the mature forest stand suggest it formed after a severe disturbance, possibly fire of anthropogenic origin.


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